Football Fever

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Religion and Football

African Cup of Nations - Ghana Style
By Nichole Huck

Life is divided between watching football and not watching football. Even as I type this entry at an Internet Cafe I am watching football.
The African Cup of Nations has taken Ghana by storm. Four brand new multi-million dollar stadiums were built in the major cities in Ghana - including one in the Northern Capital of Tamale.
When the Ghana Black Stars are playing - you know it. Everyone is dressed in Ghana colours, motorcycles and taxis are draped with Black Star flags. And every TV in town is tuned to the game. But on days when the other teams play in Tamale the stadium has thousands of empty seats. Seats range in price from $4 to $15. The four dollar seats are usually fairly full - but the $15 dollar seats are nearly empty.
If the minimum wage is $2 a day - then some people would have to work for a good two days or a week to pay for a ticket. Even though it’s world class soccer (football) - most people just don’t have the disposable income to go to the games.
Young boys (or small boys as they are called here) line up outside the stadium hoping someone will take pity on them and buy a ticket for them. Young girls are too busy working to worry about watching the game. You will see them walking around with trays of water sachets on their heads - trying to earn some money.
It really is nothing like any professonal sporting event I have ever been at! The North of Ghana has a large muslim population - that means the games are not filled with drunk fans. Quite the opposite - alcohol is not sold at the stadium and if you walk in during half time you are likely to see Muslims praying. It really is an amazing juxtaposition - to see rowdy fans next to people in prayer.

The finals are next weekend - and then things will start to go back to normal. The entire country has been preparing for the tournament for months. Nearly every food stall has been repainted or renovated. Streetlights were installed on the major roads. Construction started on a bunch of new hotels and most bars bought new TV’s to show the games.
But I haven’t seen the kind of response that everyone was hoping for. The traffic on the streets hasn’t increased much; the flood of people to the city has been more of a stream. Some things are noticeably different. For instance - hotel prices at some establishments have more than quadrupled. And there are more young people in the streets during the day because many of the colleges and schools have decided not to re-open until after African cup is over. Some of the University residences are being used to house visiting fans and many of the students are volunteering at the games.
All in all I think African Cup has been great for the country. Fans from different ethnic groups are united in cheering on the Black Stars. All those development projects that Ghana has been putting off had to be finished for the games. It’s nice to be able to walk on well-lit streets at night and feel safe. But next week once it all settles down - once the foreigners go home and the media turns the spotlight off Ghana -- it will be interesting to sit back and look at the lasting impact of the tournament.

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Photos

Ghana Fans
Forgive me Rough Riders for I have supported another!

Black Stars Fan
I snapped this photo outside the stadium the day it opened.

Head to Toe
Most people have gone all out with Black Stars pride.

Two Worlds
To my right -- a group of screaming Senegalese Football Fans.
To my left -- a group of Muslims in prayer.

Empty Stadium
This is a view of the nearly empty $15 seats.

Comments

[The Open Road]

In spain...
at football games, everyone pays 50 euro for tickets and smokes cigarette after cigarette until the game is over. At half time, 70,000 people take out bocadillos (snadwhiches) from home and eat them. They also don't sell alcohol at the game, but every single peson has a non alcoholic beer in hand. Thanks for the stories. I enjoy them thoroughly.