Ghanaians welcome all the competitors and visitors to the current African football fiesta. Much may go wrong while they are here, but the Ghanaian heart quivers for that warm satisfaction which is the birthright of all who set foot in the cradle of African football. Africa has come a long way in football and Ghana has played a leading role. Seventy years ago, a police team left the shores of the Gold Coast to play football in England. The English papers made fun of the African players. It was The Daily Telegraph I think, which extended welcome to the Gold Coast players with the caption: "ll African police men leave their 99 wives to play barefooted football in England." As a matter of fact, we did play barefooted then. When 10 years later I played football at the University in England, I did not feel comfortable in boots. I played for the college team in "canvass" shoes and scored a spectacular goal. It was the talk all over the college. Congratulations were invariably followed by the jibe "it was fantastic, you have no boots on". I, therefore, stopped playing football and took to hockey. On reflection, I wondered how we enjoyed ourselves at home with the minimum of facilities. Every open stretch of land was a football pitch, and there were many. All that we needed were a tennis ball (footballs were too expensive) and four heaps of stones to mark the two goal posts. Now and again, there was a dispute whether the ball passed through the two heaps of stone or not. The argument was particularly acute when the ball was high. The matter was resolved in a way which has not changed much today, even among the mighty nations of probity. The stronger side won by imposing its will. Football was by far the most popular game at boys' schools. All schools had their football parks, which have now been turned into markets and housing estates. It was generally believed that all that was needed for football was a park and enthusiastic boys. The football talent had to be identified and left to flourish. It was Achimota College, which vividly demonstrated the importance of training. The Ceylonese, A. H. R. Joseph, and our own P. D. Quartey showed that talent could flourish through nurturing. Kwame Nkrumah appreciated this and encouraged institutions, especially government ones to release members of the national team for training. The English team, Blackburn Rovers, with the legendary Stanley Mathews, was invited to play in Ghana to show how skills and organisation made the difference. Thus, through the understanding of its leaders, Ghana became the centre of excellence of African football. Today, we have many great teams on the continent and the Black Stars have to work hard to match the high quality of African football. This is as it should be. The present competition should bring out the best in African football and bring the continent together. Progress in football will depend on the economy of the African countries. Our stadiums and other facilities are far behind those in developed and many developing countries. Here in Ghana, a lot had to be done to bring the stadiums and other facilities to the required standards. Whatever the financial returns, the taxpayer will have to pay a lot for the facilities provided. But what has been done is not extraordinary. In the global village today, even the African in the remote village knows this. That is why the mindset is to leave Africa for greener pastures elsewhere. That is why our talented footballers leave Africa to play in Europe and elsewhere. We are pleased to see these footballers who play so well in other lands on television, but we prefer them to delight us in flesh here in Africa. For this dream to come true, we should put our economies right. We should do away with so much thievery and corruption in high places. Football enthusiasts are many in Africa. If the few who visit Ghana now would demand real development when they return home, we would build better facilities for African football and pay our talented young men at least a tenth of what they earn outside Africa. Nigeria, with its oil money, should set the pace. But to be truthful, I do not mind if they don't, because if they do, they will invariably beat us and I do not relish that. Ghana should beat big brother Nigeria at something. And why not in the most popular game. I will feel good for the rest of the year if we beat Nigeria at this great football fiesta. Talking about oil rich Nigeria reminds me of the elation of Ghanaians when it was announced that oil had been found in their country. The experience of Nigeria suggests that oil will not necessarily solve Ghana's problems. What we have in Ghana at the moment should, with good husbandry of resources, make the country more prosperous than it is. Oil prices have shot up to the great discomfiture of Ghana's foreign exchange reserves. The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning is rightly exploring the possibilities available for paying our way. He has suggested that oil importers could find ways of raising the necessary foreign exchange for their imports, other than relying on the Bank of Ghana. But such other ways would involve borrowing or something similar, and this would raise costs, which would be passed on to the poor consumer. Fortunately, as the price of oil goes up, the price of gold rises. Where does the gold money of Ghana go? We should examine this as a matter of urgency. But we are in a festive mood, so let us do this soon after the football euphoria. Source: K. B. Asante/Daily Graphic