[ 2011-05-25 ]

Feature: Essien, footballers are no slaves to Ghana
As long as Ghanaians think of our footballers as
slaves, the Michael Essien debacle will never go
away.

Just in the recent past, under Abedi Pele, the
accusation was that our foreign based players were
not patriotic, not committed to the national
cause. Today it is Michael Essien who is not and I
bet my last coin, tomorrow it will be another
player.

I have followed with keen interest the controversy
that surrounded Michael Essien’s self imposed,
albeit temporal retirement from the Black Stars
and his return which will be heralded by an AU
match on Wednesday. And I make two observations;

The first are critics who are saddened with
Essien’s absence not merely because they think
the Chelsea star is a selfish, condescending
character but because anytime the Black Stars
line-up for a game it must have its best stars on
parade-It must have Essien- especially when he is
playing week-in-week-out for Chelsea.

For those critics they are tolerant. They believe
Essien like any other footballer; any other
Ghanaian has a right to take decisions; decisions
that must first be in the interest of the player
and that of the nation.

They warn however that Essien must now fight for a
place in the team and should not be awarded a
position as though it his birthright.

The other critics, unfortunately are the
extremists. For them, Essien, in fact no
footballer has any right to dictate to Ghana when
he is available and when he is not. They claim
Ghana made Essien who he is for which reason he
has no right to turn his back on the country. Once
he is alive and kicking as a footballer he is
bound to play for the Black Stars his physical,
emotional, psychological preparedness
notwithstanding.

Too extreme and entrenched is their position that
some have even sworn to trade their love, passion
for the Black Stars with Essien’s return-once
the Chelsea star is back in the Black Stars they
are out with their support.

It is obvious that for these supporters,
footballers are slaves to the country. They back
their slavery mentality with a refrain that Ghana
provided the opportunity for Essien and his ilk at
the U17, 21, 23 levels for them to blossom into
international super stars. So if Essien or any
other player pleads to be left out of a game or
games he is described as a traitor, a low lying
ingrate who if they have their own way must be
annihilated.

Whilst that U17, 21 arguments may sound
superficially appealing, it is flawed in many
significant respects. And I will prove it. Ghana
did no favour at all to Essien or the 17 others
who were selected to represent the Black Starlets
in New Zealand 1997. Essien was chosen because he
was one of the best at the time, at least,
according to Coach Jones Attuquayefio who selected
him for the tournament. Ghana wanted to win the
tournament and had to pick her best boys. It was
no time for favours. In any case, even after that
successful tournament, do we remember which
Ghanaian players were tipped to take the world and
the Black Stars by storm? Bernard Don Bortey,
Ishmael Addo[who picked the golden boot award]
Razak Ibrahim who was seen as the promising player
and host of others. Michael Essien was just part
of the team. With no disrespect to the other
players mentioned above, I ask where are they? Are
some of them still playing? But Essien is now a
super star. He is what he is today not because
Ghana offered him the opportunity to play at the
U17 level; He is Essien because he is focused,
hard working and humble.

Again, I feel sorry for people who think
footballers owe their lives to the country and
must at all times kowtow to the needs of the
country even at their own peril. May be this
analogy will suffice.

We have had top notch journalists in Ghana who
blazed the trail in the Ghanaian media but who in
a blink of an eye have been whisked away to BBC.
We have had doctors who after being trained with
the tax payers’ money have left the shores of
Ghana to work in other jurisdictions. All we have
done is to clothe that unfortunate practice with
an interesting phrase -“Brain drain.” We have
public servants who on daily basis run to private
sector ostensibly because the latter is paying
more; we have public servants who out of the blues
announce their resignation from crucial national
positions with the explanations that it is time to
move on with their lives and pursue other tasks.
The examples are many. We don’t call these
people traitors do we? We call them smart people
who are seeking their self interest. And yet we
turn around and use all sorts of unprintable
language against footballers who make similar self
interest decisions.

As a matter of fact, any human being has the
innate tendency to seek his interest first in any
capacity so long as he does not bribe, corrupt the
system he is part of. So what is wrong if a
footballer says country men, I need some time off
after two career threatening injuries playing for
Ghana; all in very mind boggling circumstances to
concentrate on my club? I will return once I have
sorted my psychological imbalance. [Zidane
resigned from the national team because he thought
it was time to commit to Real Madrid. He was
recalled in 2005.] If any body thought playing for
a club and a country is the same as putting on a
hose, jersey and running on a pitch, that person
must start thinking all over again; and for
Ghanaian fans who are critical enough to reprimand
an injured player who is in crutches on the stands
for not smiling, laughing or jubilating a goal
scored by a colleague on field of play, indeed
every player must be physically, psychologically
and emotionally ready before appearing in a
Ghanaian shirt. Stephen Appiah who is most often
cited as a symbol of patriotism had two painfully
contrasting emotional experiences with Fernabache.
He was mobbed by the fans in a way never seen
before when he arrived from Italy. After an
unexplained injury he suffered playing for the
Turkish side which kept him out for nearly two
years he decided to leave the club. That was
sensible; it was self interest. Just wondering if
he would have sacrificed his career if a similar
thing had happened playing for Ghana.

Finally, we have heard how selfish Essien has been
for putting the interest of the country at the
back burner. But what we have not heard or seen;
or even if we have; we have not dared to mention
is how the country has used and dumped some of our
players and treated them with contempt.

Laryea Kingson in what the extremist critics will
cite as a rare bastion of patriotism had eternal
running battles with foreign clubs over what other
cynics describe as ‘blind’ patriotism. In his
bid to satisfy the unquenchable demand for
patriotism he, too many times, fought with his
managers abroad. Even when he is injured and could
not play for his club side he defied all threats
and played for Ghana. In the end what was his
reward? On two occasions he was painfully dropped
from World Cup squad for no justifiable reason.
The World Cup is the deepest experience any
footballer will ever have in his professional life
yet Ghana denied one of her ‘slaves’ a
footballer’s most cherished dream. I was dropped
from being part of a school team for a Valco
tournament in 2000 so I know how it feels like to
be dropped, especially when you feel you deserve
to make the cut. Odartey Lamptey in 1991 was
touted as the next big thing in World Football,
but according to his own testimony, he was used,
exploited by the country for all national
assignments until he fizzled out. He had put the
national interest first but what has he to show
for it. Stephen Appiah nearly walked out of the
Black Stars squad ahead of the 2010 World Cup;
only Milovan Rajevac, the GFA saved the situation.
Some of these same Ghanaians thought he was not
deserving of a place in the team. There are
several other examples.

Is it the case that Ghana can pooh pooh on the
rights and expectations of our players and claim
to be victims when these players assert their
rights as Ghanaians and as individuals? I leave it
to the judgement of all.

Welcome Essien but know that you have to fight for
a position in the team.

Source - MyjoyOnline

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