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Osagyefo and the Extraordinary Administrator: More than half a century the greatest African of the last century – according to a BBC poll – ‘Osagyefo’ Dr Kwame Nkrumah proved himself a visionary in football as well as history. Nkrumah believed that Africans were capable of organisation and achievement and was determined to give Africans the chance to shine. Football was an essential part of Nkrumah’revolution. He was ably assisted by the greatest sports administrator in African history, the late Dr Ohene Djan. Accra’state-of-the-art stadium is rightly named after him. Djan reorganised Ghanaian sport after independnce was achieved in March 1957. Ghana had not competed in the first three editions of the African Cup of Nations and Djan was determined that the Black Stars as the national team was now called would live up to the name. The best players were seconded from their clubs to the newly created club Real Republicans. This helped them to gel into a formidable team.
The Vision: Both Nkrumah and Djan shared a vision, but Ghanaian football needed a black coach too. There was no shortage of skill. The talented Charles Gyamfi’playing career was approaching its end as the 1960s began, but it was the start of a new chapter. Fortuna Dümay not have been the most glamorous team to visit Nkrumah’s land, but the effect was immense. opened the door for African players to come to Europe. Gyamfi went to West Germany as it then was. He soon endeared himself to Fortuna fans, earning the nickname Tunde Vita after his thunderous shot, but Gyamfi came to Europe to do more than just play football. It was part of Nkrumah’s plan and Djan’s too. Older players would be encouraged to learn to coach. Gyamfi was in the first wave. He was also the most successful. The Plan: Ghanaian football was revamped from top to bottom by Djan. Taking part in the African Cup of Nations for the first time was not enough. They had to win with African players trained and coached by an African. The Revolution and Nkrumah’s vision depended on it. "
But first he had to be taught to coach. "I knew that the Football Association was saying that the older players should become coaches," Gyamfi said. "They were looking for us to go outside the country to go and learn coaching, so when they came back they would be suited to the scouts in the country and every region had a coach." George Ainsley and Andreas Sjolberg came and went. The Hungarian József Ember was hired and proved generous to the young Gyamfi, inviting him to observe his working methods. "When Ember left they gave me my chance," Gyamfi said. "I became the national coach and they were all under me – all the coaches. That was how we got started." Gyamfi won the African Cup of Nations in 1963. Two years later he became the first coach to retain the trophy. It required more than forty years for his achievement to be matched. Under the watchful gaze of Nana Kuni Gyamfi I, then the most successful coach in African history, Hassan Shehata impressed by steering the Pharaohs to the second of three titles in a row. This January Shehata won the tournament again to equal Gyamfi’s tally. Politics robbed Gyamfi of the opportunity to win three in a row. Carlos Alberto Parreira, then an inexperienced fitness trainer who had only just qualified as a coach, ended the domination of the Black Stars. He was fired as was Gyamfi, who had been demoted to assist Parreira. It was an utterly shameful way to treat an African legend. Dr Kwame Nkrumah saw that we didn’t need to rely on European coaches, but had to get our own coaches trained and that was when I started – forty years ago," Gyamfi told us in an extensive and exclusive interview. |
