Magnus Rex Danquah
Sports business consultant Magnus Rex Danquah has equated failure to provide the youth with sports infrastructure to a grave sin.
He pointed out that the absence of sports infrastructure also robs the youth the opportunity of realising their potentials.
In his keynote address at the inauguration of the Western Region Sports Committee (WRSC) and the maiden strategic workshop recently, he mentioned how important it was to protect and facilitate the dreams of the youth.
To the 2008 AFCON COO, there is no better blessing on any human being than providing the youth the opportunities to live their dreams.
However, he said, “Now, if we do not provide the infrastructure nor facilitate their access to living their dreams, there is no worse sin than this to my mind.”
And speaking on ‘awakening the sport economy of Western Region’, he called on WRSC to engage the National Sports Policy Review Committee so that by the time they are through with their report, it would also have had a regional sports policy to inform its activities within the main national parameters.
He also touched on another subject which borders on the dreams of the youth and stated that 10 years before CAN 2008, “others saw the possibility of providing a new 20,000 plus stadium for the Twin City, not many saw the same and fought against it. Obviously, you would also face this same test but be assured that once we focus on the opportunities and not ourselves we will succeed with this task.”
He added, “We need to protect the dreams of our youth to engage in all kinds of sporting disciplines, excel and become stars some day after travelling abroad for the very first time with the national teams. Then at the African Games, Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games, CAF AFCON or FIFA World Cup tournaments, when he or she climbs the podium, Ghana’s national anthem played, and the athlete is introduced as one of our own from one of the districts of Western Region.”
He reemphasized that if the football industry in Ghana cannot guarantee or has no minimum wage, then it is not being run as a business.
“How can we say it is an industry with no set standards, some club owners still run it, as before, from their pockets and pay their players as and when and not when salaries are due? We will need to take a decision on promoting traditional games and sports within our own cultural settings for possibilities to grow them into national games and thereafter as part of the continental African Games.
“Fortunately for you, Ghana will be hosting the 13th African Games in 2023, and the WRSC should begin to work towards qualifying as many performers from the Region for the national teams as possible, starting now,” he added.
The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, Omanhen of Essikado (British Sekondi) Traditional Area and chairman for the occasion and Director-General of the National Sports Authority, Prof. Peter Twumasi, graced the event.
By Kofi Owusu Aduonum