How the GFA has failed the Black Queens

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Pulse-gh May 4, 2022 9:56 p.m.

How the GFA has failed the Black Queens

While choosing a woman coach for the Black Queens is a great precedent, it doesn’t guarantee trophies and for a nation whose status in women’s football hangs by a thin thread, radical moves on the chessboard are required.

The problem here is that unlike the newbies in football, the Queens had proven beyond measure that Ghanaian women and girls are talented enough to be trophy contenders for the African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) and the World Cup.

Because this crop of players had the unwarranted responsibility to prove to their respective governments and nations that believing in women’s football isn’t a hoax.

The Queens haven’t seen a quarter of such investment hence the GFA view them as a charity case- where they expect these players to be happy and grateful that they’ve been given the “rare” chance of playing.

I’ll leave that question for you to answer and while I still stand by my “no speculation rule”, I believe football has gone beyond the allegiance and alliance era where we feel we owe it to veteran players to be appointed as head coaches of their national teams.

The national women’s team was built with ambitious goals which were eventually met when we qualified for the 1999 World Cup after knocking on its doors 2 consecutive times (1991, 1995).

In 1991, Ghana joined the early pioneers of football during the maiden edition of the African Women’s cup of nations.

The team made three consecutive appearances in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999, 2003, and 2007.

Circling back to 2010, where we look at the genesis of the problem, it is clear that to qualify for the World Cup excelling in the African Women’s cup of nations is a must.

Alberta Sackey, Genevieve Clottey, and Adwoa Bayor have for so long held the torch which has been perceived as the beacon of hope for Ghana women’s football.

If you still don’t believe the GFA just loathes to see women thrive in sports, then Exhibit A: The Black Stars were invited to the presidency after qualifying for the World cup yet the Princesses were neglected.

You might ask yourself, where are we moving to as a nation for women’s football? This level of interest was the ultimate peak of women’s football in Ghana.

These women, can’t make a decent living out of their careers on the Ghanaian football scene.

The foundation the past Queens built for football in Ghana hasn’t seen any worthy contractor [GFA] build on it.

This GFA who is predominantly male, with a bruised ego, asked her to apologize because she didn’t use “legitimate” means in addressing her concerns.

We failed to evolve with the game and somehow, SOMEHOW, we’re stuck in the land of nostalgia thinking the players can magically conjure prerequisite skills to win trophies.

Despite the fact that they’ve made it 3 consecutive times to the World Cup and have been a great force in the AWCON as well.

Since making that claim in 2021, Ama Pele hasn’t received a national team call-up again.

The answer is simple, “it’s an African thing”.

Dear reader, we don’t want to draw any speculations here but all was well till the Black Stars qualified for the FIFA World cup in 2006.

This was the first time the team had qualified for the world cup and that made them the first National team in the country to do so.

The issue went unnoticed again and like how job applications are swept and abandoned in cabinets at the HR’s office the once gallant Queens were neglected.

Countries are investing in their technical teams, equipment, physiotherapists, and psychologists just to mention a few and we still live in the 90s land of perception which says “talent is enough''- a ticking time bomb… Which has gone off in the early stages of this decade already.

The new school of players who popped up in the 2010s was slapped with treachery because the belief the Ghana Football Association had in the team was sparse and demoralizing.

Making speculations isn’t my favorite card to play, but I would have loved to see how all this rolled out if it were a Black Stars player.

The same attitude isn’t meted out to the coaching staff in the Queens and that has to change.

Their shadows and the echoes of their lament can be heard intermittently highlighting how once fruitful football was for women in Ghana.

We can go on and on about the litanies on how to develop football for our Queens but it takes belief and the purest form of love to bring out the best in these athletes.

The culture for underperforming coaches in the Black Stars is cutthroat and there’s no room for mistakes.

It takes “belief” to bring out the best in a woman, especially in a world where most of them feel inadequate..

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