President of  Nationwide Supporters  Union(NSU) , Aziz Haruna Futah  has revealed that he and other leaders sacrificed their place on government’s list of supporters just so their members can make it to Brazil  for the World Cup,painting a bright picture of sacrifice.

Futah told the Justice Dzamefe Commission of Inquiry that he was compelled to scale down a list of 20 members to 15 after a government official Mr. Nunoo Mensah told him government could only sponsor 15.

Given five minutes to drop five names, he said he took the decision together with four other executives to drop their names. They left only a branch coordinator who was also a ‘jamah’ leader.

The President of NSU was at the commission to tell the story of travelling from Ghana to Brazil and conditions of the supporter during their 15 day stay in the South American country during the FIFA World Cup.

His story of sacrifice impressed the commision. The three-man commission has often expressed frustration at the level of exploitation, lack of transparency and neglient attitude of some World cup committee members despite their claim to have sacrificed for the nation. 

The commission has been questioning the motivation of officials and stakeholders at Ghana’s most disastrous World Cup campaign. Ghana appeared for the third consecutive time in June 2014.

A senior official Larry Acheampong, told the commission last Monday that he was inspired by the Coat of Arms in the office of Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, the then Sports Minister. Larry Acheampong said this motivated him to sacrifice for the nation.

Interestingly during his inspirational service, Larry supervised the payment of over 190,000 dollars as food ingredients. But  he could not provide any receipt for the transaction.

Stating his motive however, Aziz Futah said he has been supporting the Black Stars all his life. He was with the team in South Africa in 2013 and again in Turkey. Aziz said he has at various times fasted for the Black Stars ahead of crucial games such as the last World Cup qualifying match between Ghana against Egypt.

Going private or going government; which is better?

Aziz Futa said after taking himself out of the list of government-sponsored supporters, he paid to get on board a flight arranged by Kenpong travel and Tours to brazil.

He paid $250 for his visas and paid $1,500 for his return ticket to Brazil.

According to him, the option to travel to Brazil using Kenpong Travel and Tours, a private agency benefitted him greatly because unlike the government sponsored fans, he was able to watch all three matches the Black Stars played in Brazil.

Government-sponsored fans were stuck behind their TV sets after the flight scheduled to take them to Fortelizza to watch the game against Germany failed.

But to the advantage of government-sponsored fans, he said, buying food in Brazil was expensive. Despite the less-than ideal soup, he was served with at one time when he was at the Ghana camp, he enjoyed it because his option was to buy the residue of cooked rice which was burnt, popularly called in local parlance ‘kanzo’.

It cost him $25 a plate.

 

Is there a difference between fans and supporters?

Aziz cast doubt on the role of hundred of Ghanaians claiming to be part of the 612 supporters in Brazil.

He also refuted suggestions from the commissioners that every Ghanaian who went to Brazil was a supporter of the Black Stars.

He made an unusual distinction between a fan and a supporter. He said fans usually gather at more comfortable sections of the stadium such as the VIP box. Fans, he said often criticized the team and players.

But that is not what supporters do, “when the going gets tough”, he noted. Supporters realize that every player in the team needs morale support to give his best, he explained. Therefore, the supporters are always on their feet singing and urging the team on.

Because of this kind of commitment, he argued that government should always be interested in helping supporters go to Brazil.

Aziz who is also a die-hard supporter of Accra Hearts of oak football club also used his time at the commission to teach the commissioners how to sing his favourite club team’s ‘jama’ songs, heart Eleven’ and ‘Arose, arose, arose’.