Infrastructure has become a bane of the local football. The local league which was once a marvel football piece every weekend overshadowing the European football has taken a nosedive. The Ghana premier league is hugely lacking in the area of infrastructure. The focal point of infrastructure in this piece will be the playing pitch, quality of football cannot be discussed if the pitch lacks the standard smoothness of a football turf.
Football control becomes almost impossible to attain if the ball bounces awkwardly on the turf at every short or pass. The very few clubs that have decent turfs and have mastered football control due to their constant training on quality turfs suddenly become very crude to the basic rudiments of first touch control as a result of these substandard pitches.
The proficiency and beauty by which WAFA players move the ball on their home grounds (WAFA PARK) simply vanishes into thin air when they visit the Karl ReinDorf park due to the crocked and rutted nature of the pitch. One can argue clearly how WAFA have been very ruthless at their home grounds even though that cannot be the only factor for such excellent results they mostly reach for their home matches.
Career threatening injuries are also a direct effect of playing football on such pitches. Lots of players have prematurely ended their football dreams due to damages caused to their tendon, ankle etc. as a result of football pitches at league centers.
How a club invest funds for player acquisition to better their results on the pitch but fail to do basic fundamental things by keeping their pitches in shape is still a mystery to many football fanatics.
The club licensing board which has been tasked to oversee infrastructure and approve venues which are conducive for the game have also been busy without doing nothing. The congestion on the few standard pitches due to the adoption of four or more clubs to one venue as home grounds will only corroborate the situation at hand.
The economic effect of this situation means lots of people will not be thrilled going to the stadium to watch football. Corporate world will not be interested in sponsoring any product which has lost public appeal due to local patronage. With the emergence of astro turf in almost every community as playground, the narrative could easily change if almost all the venues for the premier league construct modern Astro turfs to replace the existing ones at the cost of the clubs and the football association.
The very clear-cut solution to this issue is to ensure that all clubs in the division one seeking to qualify for the premiership have standard football pitch before they are allowed to kick start the division one league. Such a measure will ensure most of the stadia in the country will get standard pitches due to chunk number of second tier clubs across the country.
Source:Modernghana.com
