The quest for the next GFA president has intensified even though the elections have indefinitely been withheld.With an unending suspense of who ascends the big throne in our football administration still in contention, both candidates vying for the seat have resorted to strategies to convince voters and football fans through their vision and ideas.
Many are of the belief that our football needs a new direction and perhaps George Afriyie is arguably the right man for the job. Having worked with the Kwesi Nyantakyi regime, he’s been touted as an experienced administrator who can steer the GFA’s fortunes around. George Afriyie contested for the seat as GFA presidential aspirant 4 years ago but had to bow out for the current president to assume the role. Coming back stronger this time, the GFA presidential aspirant have been touring media houses to preach his message of vision and hope for Ghana football. Speaking on Asempa 94.7mhz in Accra, he touched a lot of issues and shared his grievance on the sorry state of Ghana football. George Afriyie blamed the government for not providing enough financial assistance to local clubs. In his statement he said, All local clubs should join hands together and seek financial support from the government. He further stressed that government has not done enough for local football and sports as compared to other countries’ influence in sports citing Japan and Nigeria as examples.
On the direction of Ghana football and performance of the national teams especially the black stars, the astute businessman and bankroller of Planners Athletic Club said, “ looking at the direction Mr. Kurt Okraku is taking Ghana football, if I (George Afriyie) don’t come in and salvage or rescue our football, 4 years down from today we won’t hear pleasant news of our football. Our football has gotten to the point that we (black stars) can’t beat Comoros, Madagascar and Niger. If our football has gotten to this level and you think everything is fine, then I have a problem with you. That’s not our status, sit down and accept that things are not moving in the right direction. We should ask ourselves what’s accounting for that and why all these failures. It’s because there’s no proper blueprint and documentation that’s detailing how our national team should be constituted”.
The astute football administrator and successful businessman has seen a steady rise to the level of the Vice President of Ghana football association. George Afriyie; a household name in our football circus aims at capturing the seat of GFA and redirecting our football. Wether or not he succeeds in his quest to become president of GFA lies in hands of voting community and the cajoling message he communicates to the footballing world.