Football Fever grips women

THE President and Founder of the Women Supporters’ Union of Ghana (WOSUGHA), Ms Freda Prempeh, has indicated that members of the union will give massive support to the Black Stars during the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament, reports Rebecca Quaicoe Duho.
She said at least 1,000 members of the union would dress in their T-shirts and other paraphernalia in the national colours of red, gold and green and showing the black star and troop to the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium to cheer the Black Stars on to victory in the opening match of the tournament on Sunday, and also in subsequent marches.
She said the union, which is made up of women from all walks of life, demonstrates its support amidst the playing of brass band music, blowing of whistles, horns and trumpets and “ noise-making” to cheer the Black Stars.
“The Black Stars will be happy to see women cheering them to victory,” she said in an interview in Accra.
She said the union would assemble female parliamentarians and ministers, some Assembly women and women from all walks of life to cheer the Black Stars.
Although she lamented over the fact that the union was yet to receive sponsored tickets per an application that it sent to the authorities concerned since October last year, the union was ready to purchase tickets for at least 500 of its members to enable them go to the stadium on Sunday.
Ms Prempeh, who is also the Assembly woman for Lakoo Electoral Area in Accra, said they would not be deterred by any circumstances in their bid to cheer the Black Stars, hence the decision to fund at least 500 members of the union.
When the Daily Graphic called on her at her residence in Labone in Accra, young ladies were seen busily sewing red, yellow and green polyester materials into shirts for supporters.
She said the union’s presence would not be felt in Accra alone but also members in other parts of the 10 regions of the country would offer similar support to make their presence felt.
She called on women to come in their numbers to support the Black Stars, saying that the era when football was seen as an all-male game was over and that the time had come for women to get involved in it by cheering both the male and female national teams whenever they were playing against other countries.
From the streets of Accra, Salome Donkor writes that Ghanaian women have not been left out in the euphoria and enthusiasm that has gripped the entire nation in preparation for the three week-long tournament.
Whoever thinks that women are not football fans may be making a mistake. On all the major roads of Accra, especially in the central business district, the Airport Road and other ceremonial streets, women are seen dressed in different kinds of paraphernalia, including T-shirts, mufflers, arm bands, and hats of different shapes and sizes, just like men, while some are also wearing earrings, necklaces and slippers designed in the national colours of red gold green going with the black star.
They are also involved in the sale of these items and others like key holders, flags, whistles, cups and mugs.
A number of women have also hoisted miniature flags on their vehicles to demonstrate their support for the senior national team.
Some are spotted wearing these items while they have also decorated their hair with scarfs and hair bands.
Josephine Owusu-Sarpong, a student in Accra, who is a staunch football fan, said she had bought her T- shirt and her ticket to watch the opening match between Ghana and Guinea at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium on Sunday.
She said it was unfortunate that Stephen Appiah would not play in the tournament due to injury, but was optimistic that the new squad would exhibit the same skills they displayed during the 2006 World Cup Tournament to lift the Continental Nations’ cup.
A middle-aged woman, Gifty Yeboah, who was spotted fully dressed in her hut and T-shirt, said she would not be left out in the month-long soccer fiesta as the tournament promised to be exciting.
Madam Monica Abba, a resident of Tema, who has hoisted a miniature Ghana flag on her car, said Ghanaians had the passion for football and nobody would be left out in the excitement characterising the major event.
“Just as all Ghanaians, both men and women, supported the Black Stars during the 2006 World Cup Tournament, we are focused that our main objective for the moment is to cheer the national team to victory to annex the prestigious continental cup,” she said.
A young lady who was spotted selling hats, key holders and mufflers, said her support for the Black Stars was unparalleled, adding that “I am selling these items and also wearing some of the paraphernalia to demonstrate how nationalistic I am”.
The soccer fever surrounding the Ghana 2008 tournament which was at a low ebb in the Kumasi Metropolis since the beginning of the year has now gathered momentum and caught up well with the youth and a section of women in the metropolis, reports George Ernest Asare, Kumasi.
Not only are the women seen wearing items designed in the national colours in support of the national team, but are also doing brisk business by selling them to generate as much money as possible throughout the period of the tournament.
From Tanoso through Asuoyeboah, Kwadaso to Bantama , the Central Business District of Adum, as well as Ayigya, Bomso, Oforikrom to Asafo, Dechemso, Krofrom and Tafo, among other suburbs of the metropolis, women are equally displaying excitement like their male counterparts in the sale and wearing of various paraphernalia in national colours to whip up interest and support for the Black Stars as they attempt to wrestle the nations’ cup from the other 15 participating teams vying for the trophy.
At the Central Market and the CBD, for example, women whose ages ranged from 20 to 35 and dealt in the sale of clothing, footwear, soap, biscuits and other products, have suddenly abandoned them and taken to the sale of tournament-related products to demonstrate their support.
The women are not leaving anything to chance and are determined to spend all their energies to concentrate on their newly acquired businesses, hoping that with the abundance of these materials in the national colours in every corner of the metropolis,  interest in the national team would be sustained, thereby motivating the players of the national team to conquer Africa for the fifth time so far as soccer is concerned.
Ms Mary Fosuah, a 27-year-old business woman, who previously dealt in assorted pomade, has now taken to the sale of flags, neck-ties, T- shirts, hats, bangles and other items in attractive national colours.
According to her, the sale of the products was to ensure that motorists, passengers, the youth and the business community in the Kumasi metropolis “ paint Kumasi with national colours to prove to the visiting teams that we are solidly behind our Black Stars in their desire to win the trophy at stake for the fifth time. Sincerely speaking, I am generating much money from the sale of these products and I am praying that Ghana hosts such important tournament as regularly as possible to offer women the opportunity to make money for the upkeep of our homes”.
“ The youth are patronising the products in their numbers, and it is my prayer that with this support, the players of the Black Stars would respond by playing their hearts out in order to annex the trophy for the nation”.
Ms Mercy Darko, a 34-year-old business woman, who previously dealt in dressing bags, is now totally ‘married’ to the sale of products that can inspire the Black Stars to perform creditably.
In an interview which the Daily Graphic conducted on the sale of the products with national colours which had caught up with a section of women in the metropolis in the past week, she noted that she abandoned the sale of the bags because patronage was very poor and it affected profit margin, “ but since I started a week ago, I always get something home, which indicates that business is thriving”.
Ms Adwoa Ampofowa, a 38- year-old businesswoman, who also spoke to the Daily Graphic on the tournament and the preparations being made, pointed out that women in Kumasi were not only interested in the sale of national colours but also gearing up for the tournament to enable them to throw their weight solidly behind the Black Stars.
She said the women supporting groups in the metropolis were co-ordinating on how to offer support to the four teams that would be hosted in Kumasi to make the tournament lively.
A 23-year-old businesswoman, Constant Berko, who dealt in assorted cloths and foot-wear, has for the past two weeks resorted to the sale of all kinds of products in the national colours as her contribution to boost interest in the Ghana 2008 tournament.
To her, the sale of the products was not to generate money “but a call to national duty because that would make it possible for the youth to acquire such products easily and offer their unflinching support to the national team.
The euphoria among women in connection with the hosting of the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament is high in the Tamale Metropolis. However, there are mixed reactions among a section of the women regarding the performance of the senior national team, the Black Stars, in previous tournaments, reports Vincent Adedze, Tamale.
While some women are apprehensive of the fact that the inability of a player like Stephen Appiah to feature in the matches might affect the team’s performance, others are of the view that the team had good players to deliver to the expectation of Ghanaians.
Most women this reporter interacted with in the metropolis wore T-shirts, caps, wrist bands and other paraphernalia designed in the national colours.
An accountant with the State Insurance Company (SIC) told the Daily Graphic that “because Stephen Appiah is not fit to play, I have lost interest in the team, although I am happy that Ghana is hosting the tournament”.
An Assistant Headmistress of the Tishegu Anglican Primary School, Madam Margaret Ainoo, for her part, urged the Black Stars players to play like a team and not to be “individualistic with the whole show”.
Women in the Twin-City of Sekondi Takoradi have also demonstrated their support for the Black Stars as they create fun and dance while selling their paraphernalia in the national colours.
The women have occupied every available space on the median of the major streets and in the central business district to sell their wares, reports Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu from Takoradi.
One of the traders, Maame Araba, said people were clamouring for the things, adding that there was a high demand for the miniature flags. Asked whether they were able to compete with the men in the sale of the souvenirs, she said, “women naturally perform well as traders and we dance to attract people to buy from us”.
A number of food vendors from Nigeria and Ivory Coast have joined their Ghanaian counterparts to put up structures to sell cooked food to the teeming spectators at Essipon Stadium.