By: Abdul Lateef Sadick
Eighty years is a person's life is a lot if you mean to talk about it in this ephemeral world. Its significance must reflect the way of life of every sphere of human relation. A life worth living for eighty resounding years should spare some sought of thought of admiring inspiration to the coming generation.
Reaching a milestone of eighty years in the sporting career of a football club should be a thing worth sharing and pride. It should be acquainted with the due professionalism of the ethics of the normal football game that gives life and live to almost all across the nuke and cranny of this global world.
It is very important we give recognition fairly to why eighty years is of much importance to every football club in this world. Clubwise, eighty years is a standard that ought to have all structures well in situ to adhere to the evolving trends of everyday football. Administrative and other aspects of the game should be at normalcy though little hitches will come along the way after eighty years of torrid survival.
The world football organization, FIFA give much cognizance to clubs that are hundred years and above but does not necessarily ignore that resplendence approach of clubs below that age that inculcate the habit of professionalism in a football association.
Kumasi Asante Kotoko, being the African club of the century after eighty years of existence- there are many on the continent who are hundred or/and above- have all to show off as their achievement in their eighty years of existence better than clubs who are hundred and above in the just recent century.
Nonetheless, the club has defeated many purposes of carrying out activities in the name of giving football a souring taste and shaping the fortunes of the club in entity including giving the supporters some value for money.
Celebrating eighty years of a club is a joy in a merry for every football club but the purpose of the Sunday friendly between Kotoko and Jagodina from Serbia was utterly needless and did not serve the reason for the friendly.
The match was capped with the major mindset to commemorate the clubs milestone of reaching this far in association football yet fans of the club were given a toast of rotten beef smeared with frustration at the Baba Yara stadium orchestrated by the club.
Kotoko as a football club, in the past few years, have proved convincing of their ineptitude in administration even after eighty years which has drawn back the fortunes of the club in branding and attractiveness.
That could be repelled by those "closer" to the club when it is inarguable. All was clear the eightieth celebration match will be a nine day wonder since the idea was brought up in August last year when the club officially attained that feet but the current management failed to organize themselves with a proper schedule of a recognizable activity to achieve that ultimatum.
It had to take FC Viera of Greece thrice to keep postponing their time to meet demands of honouring the club friendly with Kotoko in Ghana as an organized and well managed club lying fourteenth in the Greece Super League presently.
It was a secondary purpose which was not worth it for Kotoko to instill in them to play a club friendly willy-nilly to commemorate their eightieth anniversary which didn't meet the nick of time as it was past six months the club celebrated its eightieth anniversary.
I felt Kotoko management wanted to show-off their credibility after several failed attempt to play, Sevilla, Athletico Madrid, FC Petrolul of Romania and finally Viera FC which was much anticipated by not only the Kotoko faithful's, but also all and sundry which led them in serving football loving fans with hasty and ill-thought organized friendly that could not achieve its purpose.
In pleasing their fans, Kotoko made a kneel jeck reaction to bring in Jagodina in earnest to replace Viera FC who truly exposed their weakness and non-readiness which made Kotoko to look like Bayern Munich or Barcelona in the friendly encounter.
One advantage reaped out of the game was that Kotoko had a good training exercise that tested the strength and readiness of their squad ahead of the G6 tournament in Takoradi and the unscheduled upcoming Ghana League.
That said, nothing was gotten out of the Kotoko/Jagodina friendly which was an utter invective and vituperation on the club and its teeming fans after exorbitant gate fees were charged for the game.
It will be a blatant flash of disgrace and dishonour in disdane to the club if they keep it as a record of beating an European club by five goals to nil. Kotoko should be honest in solemn to themselves to discard this game as part of their records and come again with something unique worth valuable to their fans and the club in totality.
Kotoko should not be thinking of bringing in something extraordinarily to commemorate its anniversary but something unique that will serve the interest of all especially the fans and Ghana football as a whole since she is been regarded as the most successful club in the country and the best over the century in Africa.
It is a shame that fans had to troop in the Baba Yara stadium to watch a good game in the name of commemorating an anniversary but to be given a "fake" and a "concocted" friendly game.
Kotoko is bigger than this and deserves better. This will keep dwindling the name of the club in choked gutters and will reach a time that the club cannot attract any sponsorship with its blur and smelling brand if things continue like this.
It still stands that Kumasi Asante Kotoko defeated the purpose of the club friendly against Jagodina, they can have some pride that some of their players were tinkered on Sunday and are ready for action in the upcoming season with much respect attached to the Jagodina team on that day.