Bring Sulley and Kevin back

E. Ablorh-Odjidja

June 27, 2014

There must have been a reason for suspending Kevin Boateng and Sulley Muntari, but what was it? Just citing indiscipline is not enough.

It has to be remembered that, in the beginning, the GFA was under a cloud of match-fixing by FIFA, the governing body of world soccer associations. Right after that came the embarrassing way the GFA handled the "appearance payment" for the Black Star players.

All this was happening while soccer fans waited around the world for the World Cup to run its course to the finals.

The GFA’s reputation was being questioned. How disciplined was this organizing body in the management of matters concerning the staging of the Black Star team matches; to include the "appearance payment" for players to provisions for their care in Brazil?

So far, no answer has been provided by the GFA for its behavior. Yet, there is this rush by this body to pronounce judgment on Sulley Muntari and Kevin Boateng by way of suspensions for indiscipline.

Take the case of the "appearance payment." The payment was to go to the players and it was assured by FIFA. There couldn’t have been a more creditworthy payment guarantor in the sports world, so what happened?

GFA had to wait till the final moment, and only when players like Sulley and Kevin struck, to chatter fly the money payment to Brazil, while players were already on the pitch in hotly soccer contests.

We were asked to believe that no funds were available internally in Ghana to advance payment before then. Not even banks in the country had money to cover the expense.

As a result, there was no money upfront for the players before they got to Brazil. And Kevin and Sully reacted.

Public reaction to the suspension of the two footballers has so far been negative. It indicated the possibility that the GFA reacted this way to cover up the embarrassment that it had already brought on the country. The attempt at a cover-up has been a failure so far.

The GFA has already embarrassed Ghana with the match-fixing scandal. An then at arguably a peak moment of the most-watched spectator sport on the globe; at a time when all eyes were on the World Cup games in Brazil, it doubles down on the embarrassment with the unnecessary suspension.

The Telegraph, UK described the dispute as:

"It was the climax of a lengthy dispute about appearance payments, which reached a head when the players had collectively refused to train. In a heated meeting with officials that evening, Muntari allegedly slapped a Ghanaian FA representative in the face, while Boateng so verbally harangued his manager that Appiah had to be escorted to his room in tears by the team psychologist."

The conflict heightened on the eve of the game with Portugal, in a group game aptly named "The Group of Death."

In this game, two of Ghana's most potent players were suspended from participating because of supposed indiscipline. The result was Ghana lost 2-1 to Portugal.

The suspension could have been imposed after the games. But the need on the part of the GFA to appear disciplined, despite the previous accusation of match-fixing, became greater.

While one may not be certain about the impact of the absence of Kevin and Muntari on this crucial game, one definitely could not rule out the possibility that these two could have provided the difference needed to win that game and also, probably, the final cup.

This act of abrupt suspension before a crucial match can be called a strategically puerile decision on the part of the GFA; a brutal one that can be reasonably argued led to the defeat of Ghana by Portugal.

I am not a great fan of football. Neither am I related to Boateng and Muntari, but seeing a country willingly court defeat in this manner and consequently embarrassing itself this way on the world stage is what leads me to write this piece.

Then, there was the dispute about "appearance payment" that needed to be clarified. It was a payment to be made to players by FIFA and not the GFA or Ghana's government and thus a sum that was not coming from the coffers of either of these two bodies.

ABC TV wrote, "World Cup prize money " which ranges in Brazil from $8 million for being knocked out in the group stage to $35 million for winning the title is normally paid after the tournament."

There was also the option for the GFA to pay the money upfront to players before the tournament, or for the players to collect the payment after on trust. These two options are reasonable possibilities, which can be settled without fanfare. Except, in this case, there was a question of trust. Could it be that these players have been burned by GFA in the past?

The idea that the money is not critical to these professional players, who earn millions of dollars from premier teams in Europe, is a non-answer.

As my son Albert said to me, "It is the principle that matters. And also, the knowledge that these players had to suspend on their part of their professional earnings and then risk injury to play for Ghana are worthy considerations."

Besides, not all the players on the Ghana squad are on lucrative contracts with professional international teams.

There are some local players on the squad who need the money. Somebody must speak for them. Kevin and Muntari did.

FIFA understood the plight of the players. It reported to the world media soon after the Ghana hassle that it 'wants proof from future World Cup teams that players are paid on time," thereby casting on the GFA a notion of mistrust many have already suspected.

The FIFA Secretary General, Jerome Valcke, went on to state that action was needed "after Ghana players threatened not to play Portugal on Thursday until the money arrived from Africa."

The way the money was transported by the GFA to Brazil was another embarrassment.

The Telegraph, UK reported that "in a manner resembling OJ Simpson's highway car chase, a convoy of police vehicles accompanied a security van through Brasilia into the Ghanaian team hotel, delivering $3 million in cash to cover the absent payments."

This was done with high drama and in front of the whole world.

The GFA couldn't think of a better way to handle the demand payment than to charter a flight, at cost, to carry the cash to Brazil. Three million dollars could not be wired by the Bank of Ghana to any international bank in Brazil, even with FIFA as the guarantor. Only a chartered flight could complete the transaction, but at what cost?

This is not the good practice we must expect from competent administrators, regardless of their line of expertise.

Valke, the FIFA official said, "the fact that the money came in cash is also sad."

And also noted that in another "dispute involving an African team Cameroon, payment arrived one day late in Brazil after players refused to travel until bonuses were agreed."

So, there you have it. There seem to be questions about how FIFA money is handled by the sports administrators. This year it is Ghana and Cameroon. But this should not be an excuse for the appalling way the GFA handled the business of Ghana soccer in Brazil.

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, publisher, www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, June 27, 2014

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