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It was
more than an embarrasing sight last Wednesday, the 25th June 2014 as the world watched on
and a $3million cash for Ghana’s Black Stars was escorted from the airport
tarmac by Brazilian police to the team’s camp in Brasilia.
The team
had threatened to boycott training over unpaid allowances and a presidential
intervention saw the cash flown to Brazil in chartered flight to save the
situation.
At a time
when the team needed to focus on their last game and fight for qualification,
they were distracted by a needless and an avoidable issue and as if that was
not enough, the Sulley Muntari ‘madness’ also reared its ugly head.
Appearing
for the third time in succession at the World Cup, it was the general belief
that the Black Stars might have picked valuable lessons from what had happened
to other African teams who allowed themselves to be distracted by money issues
at a World Cup. But alas! that was not to be as the Stars suffered the same
fate as Cameroon, Togo and
Nigeria in the past.
Over the
years, African countries have experienced missed fortunes at the World Cup,
thanks largely to numerous incidents of clashes between players and officials
over money, due to a breakdown of trust among players and officials and
interestingly, the issue is dominant mostly in West African teams.
There
have been predictions that before this century ends, an African team will be
crowned world champions, and a West African team has been tipped to lead that
charge.
That
prediction is a possibility, as African teams have proved over the years they
are blessed with enormous talent to compete at the highest level. At least, in
the last four World Cups, African stars impressed and gave the indication
that with the right attitude, winning the coveted was within the reach of
African sides.
For each
World Cup, there has been so much hope and promise for the continent's
representatives, yet the best showing by an African side was a quarter-final
bid by Cameroun in 1990 and Ghana two decades later.
More
often than not, the off-the-pitch incidents tend to rock the boat for most
African teams, pushing that dream farther and farther away.
Cameroun
have attended seven World Cups, and with the notable exception of the 1990
tournament in Italy which saw the Roger Milla-inspired side reach the quarter-finals,
the Indomitable Lions have bowed out at the group stage in the 1982, 1994,
1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014 tourneys.
Why
issues over money seem to be the bane of Cameroun is inexplicable. The issue of
trust between the players and the Cameroun Football Association (FECAFOOT) over
the payment of bonuses seem to be a never-ending one.
Ahead of
Brazil 2014, Agence France-Presse and Eurosport quoted Le Jour newspaper
detailing a huge difference between players and officials:
“The
Cameroun government, last week, offered 61,000 euros, which the players
rejected, and then increased it to 68,000 euros, which was also turned down,
Cameroun daily Le Jour reported.
Le Jour
said the players were demanding more than 120 million CFA francs (182,000
euros) each. The daily blasted the demand as “indecent.”
Such
situations, according to freelance writer Jonathan Wilson, is the norm for
Cameroun, but it almost got out of hand when the players refused to board their
plane to Brazil at their scheduled travelling time.
They eventually
arrived in Brazil and had their worst appearance, failing to secure a single
point.
Even
worse, they left the world with an unforgettable image when Benoit Assou-Ekotto
head-butted his teammate, Benjamin Moukandjo, moments after a 0-4 loss to Croatia
in their second game.
Nigerian
players are no different.The players and staff have struggled to agree on
payment in recent times. A dispute over bonuses nearly led the players into
boycotting the FIFA Confederations Cup, but an agreement was struck with Sports
Minister Bolaji Abdullahi just before last year’s tournament, and all seems to
be calm in the camp of Super Eagles. According to reports, each Nigerian player
will earn $100,000 if they win this year's World Cup, with a total of $2.6
million up for grabs across the entire squad.
Ghana’s
camp has been hit with the bug and the Stars have had to pay the price with
their exit from the first round.
The
players’ refusal to receive their money through their accounts with uniBank,
their official sponsor, in preference for $100,000 in cash.
Not only
was the issue a source of embarrassment to Ghanaians, but also the players’
action confirmed a level of mistrust between the parties involved.
After two
World Cup appearances, what went wrong this time in Brazil? It could not have
been that bad, coming on the heels of a scandalous report that alleged that the
GFA had been in talks with a company over a potential deal for the national to
‘fix’ the results of future international friendlies.
As if
that was not enough, last Tuesday, the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr
Joseph Yammin, told the whole world that the $3million appearance fees for the
team had been sent by chartered flight, this almost spontaneously making Ghana
a ridicule in the international media with all kinds of headlines.
Mr Yammin
and his utterances will be a topic for discussion on another day.
How did
Ghana get to this crossroad when in 2006 and 2010 there were no such incidents?
Of course, in 2010 some of the allowances were in arrears and that forced then
captain, John Mensah, to block the entrance of the Ghana Football Association
(GFA) with his four-wheel drive in demand of the money.
Not that
African players are the only ones who receive allowances and bonuses from the
World Cup, yet there are no hullabaloo over how they receive their money.
For
instance, Spain were to expect a bonus totalling €720,000 each if they retained
their title in Brazil, while Germany and Brazil players were assured of
€300,000 and €330,000 respectively if they were crowned champions, according to
ESPN.
Charles
Sale of the Daily Mail wrote that England reached an agreement that would see
each Three Lions player pocket £350,000 (€433,000) with a final win.
So
what makes the issue of bonus a never-ending tussle when it comes to African
teams? It must be stressed that hardly does such an incident pop up among the
North African teams.
Why would
the players who receive their weekly wages or monthly salaries from their clubs
through their banks refuse to use the same process when it comes to national
duty?
After
all these years, is there no blueprint over how to disburse funds to players?
The
banking laws in the country as recently laid down by the Bank of Ghana do not
allow one to physically carry along such huge sums, so why didn't the officials
agree on that before the team even embarked on their preparatory tour?
What
happened to the uniBank visa cards presented to the team just before they
emplaned for The Netherlands?
And what
happened to the recommendations in the aftermath of the loss of the $40,000
meant for the national team which the late Sports Minister, Mallam Ali Yusif
Isa, had in his custody on a flight to Sudan during a World Cup qualifier?
Why would
the law be circumvented just in the name of the Stars? Are they above the law?
The
questions are inexhaustible, but the answers are hard to get.
However,
there should be a laid down procedure henceforth to pay all national teams.
Perhaps,
all these have happened because of the leaders’ inability to keep their word.
Once a promise is made and a time set, there should be no going back on that
word. However, in several situations, that is not the case and players have to
literally ‘chase’ their money long after an assignment has been undertaken.
While it
is important to give what is due and promised the players, it will be setting a
bad precedent when government behaves the way it did last Tuesday.
What the
government should have done was to pay the money into the players’ account at
uniBank, given them the pay-in documents and see if they would have rejected
the cash in their accounts which they could easily access with their uniBank
MasterCards.
Football
is the passion of the nation and at a time when the nation needed something to
lift its spirit, the Stars held just used their power to hold the nation to
ransom.
Maybe,
just maybe, the players felt holding the nation to ransom was the only way to
get what was due them. That only goes to emphasise Alan Greenspan’s saying:
“When trust is lost, a nation’s ability to transact business is palpably
undermined.” Yes, even doing business with rich footballers
