The rapid downturn in the patronage of football by the Sekondi-Takoradi elite clubs and other local competitions and the sudden love for foreign football in the area has become a major headache for stakeholders and some state leaders.
Football was popular in the Twin-City in the early 50’s following the formation of Sekondi Eleven Wise in 1919 and Sekondi Hasaacas in 1931.
Sekondi Eleven Wise and Hasaacas were among the founding members of the first Ghanaian League and dominated the league in 1960 and 1977 respectively.
Football fans in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis have never been short off, expectations always ride high before and every major league.
Eleven Wise became the first Ghanaian team to travel to Brazil for preseason training whiles Hasacaas also dominated the Black Stars squad in 1982 Africa Cup of Nations triumph in Libya.
So, these two teams made their names for their sterling performances on the pitch of Gyandu Park. Peeps, weekends in Sekondi and Takoradi were a bliss of football times.
Truly, people wanted to be residents of Sekondi-Takoradi due to the quality of life it promised.
Sekondi-Takoradi was then a bursting city through football.
Before 2010, Sekondi-Takoradi was boast of 2 Premier League Clubs( Hasaacas, Eleven Wise), 4 Division One clubs, 32 Division Two clubs, and over 20 colts clubs.
Indeed football was popular and reigning in the Sekondi-Takoradi.
The FM stations at the time were not even up to 10 but clubs sports news were discussed almost all their channels sake of the teams impressive performances in the various leagues.
Sadly, football in the area has fallen rapidly since then, following the demotion of sekondi Hasaacas and Eleven Wise into the Ghana’s second tier division in 2011/12 and 2015/16 season.
As of today, the case has been worst following Hasaacas and Eleven Wise demotion to Second Division.
The two sides are the most followed football clubs in the Western Region, a region with a population of almost 4million according to the latest data.
Currently, the Western Region’s most popular city and zonal area in terms of football, has no Premier League club and division one club apart of Hasaacas Ladies in the Women’s Premier Division.
FOOTBALL NOW IN NZEMA
Statistically, football has now moved from its spiritual home to Nzema-Ellembelle just 1hr30 minutes drive from Sekondi-Takoradi.
Nzema who at that time was very unpopular is now the home of football in the region.
The coconut rich tribe is leading the region in terms of football with one GPL club ( Karela United), Two Division One clubs ( Nzema Kotoko and Basake Holy Stars), one Women’s Division One club ( Holy Royals) and incredibly 14 Division Two clubs who are competing in the ongoing 2021/22 Regional Division Two League.
Medeama SC who have dominated in the recent FA Cup editions and their consistent performance in the Premier League has also made Wassa-based town (Tarkwa) another football hotspot in the region, so as Samreboi ( Wassa Amenfi East).
Samartex FC owned by Samartex timber will also play in the next season Ghana Premier League after 26 years wait.
FOOTBALL IN THE WESTERN NORTH
Football is also popular in the Western North (Sefwi-Bibiani) after Goldstars historic promotion to Ghana’s topflight football.
Goldstars participated in the just ended 2021/22 Ghana Premier League season for the first time and had a good campaign.
SPORTING FACILITIES
To try to revive the interest of football in the area( Sekondi Takoradi) then we have a long mountain to climb by qualifying our two glamorous clubs to the Ghana topflight to overshadowed the penetration of other football areas in the region.
The current state of Sekondi Sports Stadium is in very bad shape.
The stadium has been left to deteriorate. It has also been left unattended for some years now with most parts of the stadium seem to go bad, so how can we revive our football with such facility.
SEKONDI-TAKORADI MEDIA
According to some football loving fans, the decline of football in the area is due to the lost of interest in their indigenous clubs and should be attributed to the sports media or sports journalists.
They blame the sports journalists for the decline in the patronage for the local teams because they spend all their time and use all their available resources to promote and give advices to outside teams at the expense of Sekondi Eleven Wise, Hasaacas and the other teams.
They also accused the media for propagating negative news about the clubs in the area.
COMPANIES IN THE AREA
There are others who also blame the companies in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis for not supporting the clubs.
According to some clubs officials, they were relegated into the lower divisions because of no sponsors and some of the companies refused to come to their aid when they even approach them.
It saddens in the hearts of people to see Sekondi Hasaacas and Eleven Wise playing in the division two.
Who should we blame for the declination of Sekondi-Takoradi football?
Samuel Enyan writes;