African Nations Cup 2008

Back in February, as the winter gloom engulfed us here, brightened only by the arrival of Andy Reid and err.. Rade Prica, down near the equator a completely different football experience was taking place – the African Nations Cup in Ghana.   

Having been to the last few world cups and European championships and enjoyed the sensation of watching football in exotic surroundings, a few mates and I had always talked idly, often late of an evening after a few ales, of taking things on a stage and trying out the African cup.  

Somewhat unbelievably, this year it all fell into place, and a group of 8 of us set off ticketless but optimistic to Ghana at the end of January, with a plan to take in as many games as we could, eat strange food, make friends with the locals and hopefully come back with a bag full of tatty souvenirs, a load of photos of enthusiastic supporters - ideally with animals and silly hats - and the minimum number of tropical diseases between us. 

Ours was a mixed party football-wise - London branch members me and Jenny Greenfield were with 6 others who were supporters of Blackburn, Everton, Fulham, Pompey, QPR and Glasgow Rangers – no it wasn’t branch member Jock Clark, but I half expected to see him there. 

Despite some trepidation – it was my first visit to “proper” Africa, and the rumours of ticket chaos were rife before we left – we could not have had a more brilliant and easy time.  

Tickets were easily available, at times through official channels, though more often via touts outside the ground. Whereas in England its an arrestable offence even to sell on a ticket at less than face value, at the second game we saw – Ghana v Morocco in Accra, the tout marched us to the gate, beckoned over a policeman, and between them ensured we were safely inside the ground before we gratefully passed our money (£5 a ticket or so) back through the bars to him. 

We saw 5 games in all. The highlight was the Quarter Final in Accra, between Ghana and Nigeria, but all the games had something to remember them by,. Even in some of the games with low crowds, the atmosphere was always magic - music, dancing, trumpets, even old fashioned air horns (remember them in the Fulwell end?!). 

In all we saw games featuring most of the major teams: Senegal v South Africa; Ivory Coast v Mali; Ghana v Morocco and also v Nigeria and Egypt v Zambia, taking in some really good football in fantastic stadiums. 

Though the Ghana games were the only ones where the stadium was full apparently league football generates massive attendances and the clubs will get sell out crowds in the new grounds they go back to the league season. 

And at the less well-attended games it was actually very easy to get good seats and sit among the press, officials and even the players sometimes which was fun. 

We sat next to the South Africa fringe players at the South Africa v Senegal game in Kumasi (about 200 miles from Accra). The Everton fan in our party got a picture with Steven Pienaar, though later confessed that he wasn’t the best conversationalist.  

At the same game I found myself surrounded by Senegal WAGS (very glamorous but a bit haughty) and some hanger on who claimed he had played with their number 14. Sadly we couldn't find a programme with the squad numbers the whole time we were there, so I had no idea who Senegal’s number 14 was, never mind who his dodgy mate was! 

I didn’t get close to Dickson Etuhu sadly – the nearest was a birds eye view of his command performance for Nigeria against Ghana in the quarter finals, but my attempts to wave and draw attention to my red and white top were somewhat lost in the throng of 60,000 singing, screaming Africans in between me and the pitch. 

We also saw Colin Harvey (ex Everton coach and less fondly remembered manager) in Ryan's Irish Pub - yes, of course there's an Irish pub in Accra - Guinness is very popular…. Harvey was out there scouting for Bolton, according to the local press who also saw him. Apparently Sunderland was one of only 3-4 premier league clubs who weren’t officially represented in Ghana. If I’d known, I’d have volunteered my services…. 

On the way back I met the head of the Malawi FA who was there on a bit of a junket (they hadn't qualified) and then was flying to London, for an important meeting which happened to coincide with a trip to Wembley. Strangely he wasn't checking in on the only Malawian in the league, and is currently at Leyton Orient. 

But in truth most places we went we were treated like celebrities ourselves. When Ghana beat Nigeria everyone was so ecstatic and some zealous fans were literally jumping on us and shouting "thank you, thank you for loving Ghana!" 

There were loads of great surprises on the trip, not least how easy everything was, given West Africa’s very unfair reputation. Some things went true to form though – my favourite tournament newspaper headline was "Nigeria in Hotel Bill Tussle", which was a story in the Daily Graphic about the team’s refusal to pay for the "extras" their team had amassed at their luxury tournament hotel. 

And it was just fun to be in a very different country for a few days. Ghana is a very religious place - but in a pretty laid back way. They have a lovely habit of decorating shops, bus stops, cars, minibuses and lorries with religious slogans, and even name businesses after Jesus. The official bread sellers at the matches were from the "Christ in You" bakery, adorned with god loves you T-shirts. My favourite slogan on an incredibly beaten up minibus, packed with people, with bicycles and mattresses on the roof, which just read: "In the name of Jesus, I will make it". They have a very strong faith… 

There weren’t many other westerners there which was a pity, but at the same time did mean it felt a real African experience. We did hook up with James Collins, another branch member, who was at the tournament with other mates in Kumasi’s ancient and chaotic market and kept coming across two lads from Partick Thistle who deserved an accolade for the most hours spent in the sports bar on consecutive days. 

The Ghanaians themselves took passion for their country to new heights. Before the quarter final a bloke was walking his goat outside the stadium and had wrapped him in a Ghana flag. And later that evening, another Ghanaian rode past us on a bicycle, naked apart from a pair of Calvin Klines, his whole body painted the colours of the Ghana flag, with a TV on his head - and incredibly the TV was on. Absolute madness!  

The next tournament is in Angola in 2010. We're making plans already for this, and I'd strongly recommend it for someone who loves football, and wants a bit of an adventure. Maybe Dickson will get the nod again!

More recently, my work commitments have taken me to Nigeria where a mutual love of football has afforded me the privilege of meeting many more knowledgeable football fanatics.  But this will have to be another story...

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