"Let's invest in sports devt in the north" - Nyantakyi

Tamale, August 13, GNA - Mr. Kofi Nyantakyi, President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA)has said that the nation stood the chance of getting competent players to compete in international competitions if it invested heavily in juvenile soccer in the northern sector of the country.

He said there were contrasting climatic features in the north, which could help sports men and women when selected from those areas to withstand any climatic change in any part of the world to compete for honours.

Mr. Nyantakyi said this when he addressed participants at the Annual National Colts Sports Festival currently underway in Tamale, capital of the Northern Region.

Twenty-four colts' teams comprising Under-12 and Under-14 clubs from the ten regions are to compete for honours in the week-long festival.

This is the first time the competition, which used to be known as the "Milo Games" is being held in the Northern Region in its 13 years of existence.

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is sponsoring the event to the tune of about 700 million cedis.

The Festival is aimed at identifying talented players to groom them for the national teams.

Mr. Nyantakyi appealed to the government to provide the requisite resources and investing in sports in the north, as a way of solving the youth unemployment in the area since the discovered talented youth footballers stand the chance of helping to develop their communities. He said juvenile football was so paramount in the development of soccer in the country and as such the FA would continue to accord the necessary recognition and support in order to unearth hidden talents. The President of the Association said the FA was collaborating with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports to consider including girls participation in the Under-11, Under-14 and Under-16 to enable them also compete in those events internationally.

Mr. Nyantakyi said the FA would revise and regularize youth football in the country by paying more attention on soccer academies to train footballers and football officials as well as organise refresher courses for them.

He advised football managers and club owners to pay more attention to youth soccer so that the country would not lack footballers to be represented in international competitions. Mr. Nyantakyi who spoke to the media later on indicated that the FA would embark on a thorough "House Cleaning" exercise by November this year to improve standards.

He said the exercise would include reviewing of qualification of workers, conditions of service, salary adjustment and the constraints facing the FA to ensure that they worked to raise the good image of the FA.

Mr Nyantakyi debunked claims that people from the north were not well represented in the selection into the National Team, the Black Stars adding that, "There was a time when Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko contributed greatly to the team as well as players from RTU, majority of whom were from the north".

"It is a fact that there are good footballers from the North and no one would ignore northern footballers in terms of player selection. The nation can get competent players from the north alone for any international assignment and we would not in anyway ignore them," he stressed.

Mr Nyantakyi called on Journalists working in the north to develop interest in sports reporting and help market potential footballers in the area to ensure that they gained firm grounds in the north.