Cape Coast Stadium at a Loss as ‘Fans’ Watch from Trees

By Oliver Griffin

Cape Coast Stadium at a Loss as ‘Fans’ Watch from Trees

The Mysterious Dwarfs are the Cape Coasts major football team. While they have loyal supporters willing to pay money to watch the match from inside the stadium, it seems that some so called fans would rather risk life and limb to watch from the tree tops, rather than pay to see the game. Today, we at CENTRAL PRESS NEWSPAPER have decided to find out what’s going on.

Mr Wilson

In the offices at the Mysterious Dwarfs’ ground, I am met by Mr Kweku Wilson, 51, the regional director of sports and his colleagues Mr Christian Mensah, the 29 year old administrational officer and Mr Haiuma Issah, the stadium manager, who is 57. Although three very different men, they are united by a love of football and despair at the situation they have with less loyal fans. ‘Of course,’ Mr Wilson started, ‘Part of the problem is due to poverty. Some people simply cannot afford to pay for the ticket that costs 3 GHC.’ However, it obviously cannot be ignored that some people choose to climb the trees regardless of the price, deciding that they would rather save money and watch the football for free. ‘We have never had a problem with capacity,’ Mr Wilson continued. ‘People are not climbing the trees because there is no space inside the stadium. It is because they think they are smart, that they avoid paying for the match that they want to watch.’ With a wry smile he added, ‘Although, some of them insist that watching the football is better from the trees, we do not agree.’

So just what repercussions does this lack of patronage have? For a start, the players cannot be paid for their matches – meaning they will either have to find other jobs, or move to clubs that can afford to pay them. ‘I wish we could educate them, inform them of the damage they are doing to the club,’ said Mr Mensah. ‘Not only are they hurting the players by not supporting them financially, they are risking their own lives.’ He’s right; the trees that these people climb are not small, reaching between 10 – 15 metres in height. Although no one has fallen from one yet, it is a strong belief amongst these three men that it can only be a matter of time before someone has a serious accident if they should fall. ‘Sometimes,’ Mr Mensah added ‘we ask the police to stand around and guard the trees from people. However, it is difficult to enforce. People need to get the coconuts to sell and eat, we cannot completely prevent people from climbing the trees if it is part of their livelihood.’ Of course, with funds stretched thin, the club has no means of preventing the people themselves: ‘We don’t have the time or money to concentrate our efforts outside the stadium’ concluded Mr Wilson.

While Mr Wilson maintains that the situation has been like this since the 70’s and 80’s, all the men are in agreement that it has got marginally worse since the club was promoted to the premier league. ‘They miss out on meeting friends and the atmosphere. Since the promotion, more people come to watch the game, there are more food stalls,’ Mr Mensah stated. It is clear that this is a big issue – if people don’t pay to see the games, the players will have to leave and the club will face closure. It can only be a matter of time before the club faces disaster, or the supporters come to their senses and actually start to support their team.