Dear Boys,
Some things are special. They might seem every day or inconsequential to others, but to you they grab your attention, fill your heart with hope, and offer a new beginning for a long standing love.
Owen, at two months old, this is probably any time you hear a play mat toy jingle. Alex, any bus related noises (particularly beeping and break hissing) demands commentary so that others might know that “that’s a bus” and tell you “where the bus go?”. For me, it’s any time someone or something alludes to Ghana.
While for other parts of the world, I have affection, fondness, or appreciation, with Ghana (and Montana) it is love. Pure and simple love. So when it comes up in daily life, it fills me with hope that this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or a great conversation, or the chance to get my hands on some high quality nkatekwan (peanut stew).
I’m starting this blog, at the same time Ghanaian soccer is starting a new beginning of its own. For most of its past, Ghanaian soccer was the story of a great team and a star player (Abedidi Pele) who rarely had the chance to shine on the global stage (thanks ingrained FIFA bureaucracy). Then it was the story of an immensely talented team that never reached its full potential (thanks Luis Suarez). But most recently, Ghanaian soccer was the story of staggering corruption and near ruin.
Two years ago a group of Ghanaian journalists, dug deep into the local soccer world and brought to light the 12th Man of Ghanaian soccer: corruption. Referees and executives who played a major part in organizing teams and determined winning teams admitted a willingness to take bribes. (Of the 94 officials investigated, only 3 turned down the bribe).
(The journalist and power broker at the center of the scandal)
Most discouraging of all was the head of the game in Ghana, Kwesi Nyantaki, a banker and lawyer who had overseen some of the country’s greatest triumphs, but who also crowed about using the nation’s President to get deals done and make more money. He resigned. He forfeited ownership of his own team (side note: if someone makes the rules and owns a team that profits from them, you shouldn’t be surprised when they turn out to be self-dealing.) Then, he was banned for life from all soccer activities.
The country and its favorite game were shaken. The organizing body was disbanded. The triumphant national team went on hiatus. And the national league was cancelled.
Just before the new year, the league started again, and Nyantaki’s old team was re-formed in a new city for its own new beginning. As Legon Cities FC, they are what I like to think of when I think of new beginnings. I hope, when you face new beginnings, you’ll do it like Legon Cities FC: with optimism and gratitude.
Think of new beginnings like you think of play mat toys jingling, or wheels on a bus squealing. You have hope in that moment of something new, something remarkable, as long as you approach it with optimism.
For Legon Cities, there are new fans, new hopes and new energy. Every social media post is hashtaged “#We Deliver” or “#BringBacktheLove” everything is possible, everything can be done. In this new beginning, all things are possible. Pessimism is not allowed. Every match, every kick, deserves an optimistic eye.
At the same time, new chances aren’t always on offer. Sometimes we succumb to the trap of thinking we deserve it, or just being glad for it without realizing that we have it through the grace of others. So please, practice gratitude for the new beginning.
The bell jingles because you’re there again, and because your mom helped you get there. The bus sounds because the driver made a stop. The chance to restart a team, a league, a love of the game, it all comes down to fans. Legon Cities knows that and shows that. Y’all can do the same.
To be sure, this second chance came about not because of contrition, or apologies, or a desire to change, but because one businessman saw the opportunity to take over where another had failed. Richard King Attipoe, the club’s new owner has splashed serious cash into his investment, trying to, in the eyes of competitors, buy his way into a title.
But the truth is that Attipoe did something that had to be done. He seized a new beginning and did so while letting go of assumptions of the past. Legon Cities isn’t just a flashy new team, it’s a team that is exploring new media, new fan engagement, new promotions (with dance hall music stars popping up to perform at every home match). Attipoe has done what Bill Veeck used to do in American baseball, drawing people with a game plus bread and circuses rather than just the game and a long still silence.
New beginnings bring hope, whether they come gilded with an owner’s gold, or just arrive when you least expect it. But they do not last long, so boys, take it when it comes, approach it with optimism and gratitude and do what you can.
Oh, and Alex, like Legon Cities, you can approach it with a really nice bus.
MacKenzie's Boot Room 