I had the privilege to visit Vietnam late 2006 and was amazed at the nationalistic instincts of the people. Passionate for their country to a fault, I saw almost every vehicle on the roads of Hanoi hoisting their national flag during the period I was there.
Amazingly, there were proud displays of the national flag even on bicycles, motorbikes and homes in the slum areas. I gathered that the week before I arrived, the country had just celebrated its national day and that also called for the extra acknowledgement. In a few weeks Ghana is celebrating a major national milestone. Can we match Vietnam in our love for country?
I got so fascinated by the show of nationalism in Hanoi and I promised to do same back home as my way of showing off my pride for mother Ghana. Luckily for me, on my return, we had only a few months to celebrate Ghana’s fiftieth independence anniversary and the national flag and other paraphernalia had begun appearing for sale out there on the streets. I purchased varied items including the flag, bangles, hair bands and the cloth which was being sold by GTP. I try to show a bit of Ghana every now and then.
My proudest moments to show off my nationalistic instincts were however, in 2010. It was a sight to behold in the capital city, Accra, in 2010 when the national team, the Black Stars, made their appearance at the World Cup tournament in South Africa. Back home, the infectious display of loyalty to the national team, the sea of Ghana flags that suddenly drowned Accra and other towns and cities spoke in tons. The love and support Ghanaian football fans showed to the national team throughout the World Cup was unmatched.
The country stood united behind a single purpose – victory for the Black Stars. Flags were flying proudly over private and public buildings. Drivers displayed the flag and their icon players on their vehicles. Shops and stores also showed their support for our boys and so did owners of many other structures. In some cases, people flew the flag in multiples to signify their dying support for the Black Stars. The newspapers were awash with advertising in support of the national team.
Admittedly, since that World Cup seven years ago, I am yet to see anything that matches up to the display of affection and support that was poured out to the Black Stars by Ghanaians from all walks of life. The Stars have played in another World Cup since 2010. The 2014 World Cup in Brazil rather incurred the wrath of many Ghanaians due to what some people referred to as the blackmail of the team over their payments, the insubordination of some of the players, and above all the then government’s embarrassing act of flying millions of dollars to Brazil to pay the boys.
Then enters the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and what attitudes do we see? One can visibly see a nation that has lost some considerable interest in the football matches of the Black Stars. One can feel that AFCON and Ghana’s performance in Gabon have no special place in people’s minds. Rather, the vetting of ministerial nominees by Parliament has taken centre stage. The screams from afar and in communities when Ghana is playing are no longer heard.
The vuvuzelas, the flags and other paraphernalia of the Black Stars are nowhere to be found. The roads are busy with traffic even on days when Ghana is playing. In times past, people would be rushing home or to popular spots to watch the matches. Those at home would be glued to their television sets for the 90 minutes of play. It is not so these last few days of AFCON.
As for the Ghana flags Black Stars Tee shirts and other paraphernalia, they are completely out of sight. Where have all those flags we acquired in 2010 gone to? Have we grown cold of the latter day Black Stars?
I was out on Saturday, 21st January, 2017 running late for a lunch event, I tried to use some shorter cut routes to get to my destination. Surprisingly, there were irritating vehicular traffic on some of the major routes in Accra. The question I kept asking myself was why because I knew Ghana was playing its second group match against Mali in Port Gentil, Gabon and being a Saturday, Ghanaian fans were going to stay indoors to watch the Black Stars play. The busy roads did not suggest so.
My assumptions were totally wrong. Yes, Ghana was playing Mali all right. But the interest in watching them play live seemed to have waned. I concluded that just as the flags and vuvuzelas had vanished from the roadside and vehicles and buildings were not flying the flag of Ghana, people were not going to give priority over the match to any other engagement they probably had that Saturday.
I had previously observed that the opening game with Uganda was not too exciting even though Ghana scored 1-0 against Uganda. It probably was not too surprising then that the group game against Mali might have put people off.
By the time we hit the third group game, two Wednesdays ago with the Pharaohs of Egypt, the flack was out of many Ghanaian football lovers as again, traffic on the roads were heavy with people returning from work rather than the once-upon-a-time deserted roads when the Black Stars were playing. The roads were heavy with traffic and the flags and the paraphernalia to cheer on were conspicuously missing.
As fate would have it, Ghana lost a lone goal to Egypt in that last group match. But though they lost, the Black Stars had enough points to proceed to play against the Leopards of DR Congo in the third quarter-finals game last Sunday. The skies brightened up and the stars shone on Ghana’s side and so our boys came out winners.
It was Sunday evening but it was all quiet. There were no excitements in the air, at least not in my neighbourhood. Talk about the flags? Where were the vehicles to hoist them? There were no vuvuzelas and no honking of vehicles. Had we abandoned Avram Grant and his Black Stars?
Our boys made it to the semi-finals and so had to play the Lions of Cameroon last night. Was there any excitement in the air or any visible public celebrations over the qualification to the semi-finals stage? I did not notice any. As at the time of going to press, the game had not started and so could not tell the fate of our Black Stars. The fact however, still remained that even at the semi-final stage, the flags, the noise, the excitement and above all the Tee shirts to identify with the Stars were conspicuously missing.
So what has accounted for the dimmed interest in the Black Stars playing at AFCON 2017 and where are the flags? The simple answer I got from a football enthusiast was that all the drama and controversy over Ghana’s appearance at the World Cup tournament in Brazil in 2014 has virtually killed the enthusiasm of football fans for Black Stars matches. We pray that the vuvuzelas, the obsession to carry the national flag, all the other paraphernalia and the sound of vuvuzelas in our ears would come back this weekend.
This column will fly high the flag with the hope that the Stars will shine and bring the Cup home on Sunday to a bigger vuvuzela party. Good luck to Ghana Black Stars.
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