By Anny OSABUTEY
Francis Yaw Frimpong, alias Pooley, was an ardent consumer of the local league. A passionate Kumasi Asante Kotoko fan. His tragic death has, again, resurrected conversation about why the Ghana Premier League does not appeal to people like us, once fanatics.
Pooley was no different from a life-long Liverpool, Everton, Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs, Westham or Chelsea fan who follows his club across stadia in the United Kingdom,without any mishap. Even in the face of adversity, the culprit would be found and punished without delay.
Unfortunately for Pooley, supporting Kotoko has never come without its own challenges; series of threats to his personal safety is well documented. He has been abused physically and verbally, at away games especially, in the face of hostile environment. The crime he committed was trying to encourage his players to win the match for the fans. That was his only crime.
A consummate believer in the ideals of the Porcupines, he would enter radio stations and preach the good news about his beloved club. Friends say his motorbike, which was temporarily given to him by a relative, had the Kotoko flag mounted at the back and sometimes, with less than half a tank of fuel, engaged rival fans in a healthy dose of debate on various radio stations.
In an era when most football fans have shifted their focus toward foreign leagues and with a mountain of betting slips in between, Pooley remained committed to the local league and became its unofficial poster boy in the process.
In one of the videos I watched of him with Joe Laka – a prominent sports journalist in Kumasi, Pooley said even at a time when he was based in Ivory Coast, he came down to Kumasi to trade and watch Kotoko matches. He also said everything he did for Kotoko was from his heart and his own resources. The reward he expected was for the team to do well.
For a fan who was not only passionate about his team but hopeful of seeing the local league become better, players get paid better and game venues record massive turnouts, the cruel end to his life should never be added to the statistics of unresolved murders in this country as well as the unpunished violence associated with our game. It is unfortunate but the very owners of a rejected product he was so determined to sell failed him.
They simply watched on for him to be mauled in that painful manner. “He was harmless. He was one of the very few dedicated consumers of a generally rejected & ailing product, Saddick Adams, a popular sports journalist, posted on X.
Football hooliganism in the local league has been on the rise post May 9. Even for somebody whose excitement in the league has waned, reports about it has never been lost on me. From the lower divisions to the very top of the pile, violence has become the norm. And it has transcended from fans becoming victims to officials also becoming recipients of the violence.
Former Kumasi Asante Kotoko striker and national team coach Maxwell Konadu was beaten by football fans at a match venue. Then a coach of Nsoatreman – ironically the team in the centre of the brutal murder of Pooley, Maxwell Konadu, was beaten by some unruly fans of Bofoakwa Tano in Sunyani. Police at the time said they were investigating the matter but nothing came from their investigations.
Real Tamale United also fell victim to this same senseless violence. A female referee was brutally assaulted in a game and despite the uproar from the public, the idiot who committed the crime walked away with a hidden smile to his face. In all these violent incidents, one would have expected the FA to be firm and exorcise this demon. But apart from empty words grudgingly issued in the form of statements, zero effort has been made to clampdown on the madness.
Ahead of his elections as the FA boss, Kurt Okraku pledged to weed out hooliganism from the game. His so called ‘Game-Changer’ manifesto, which was embraced by almost everyone in the football sphere, was to change things. That has not happened. A typical style of an impotent man bragging before women that he has the power of giving them twins, Kurt has been abysmal and even the dead know it. He is preoccupied with the faded Black Stars, which he continues to use to enrich himself and his assigns, while ignoring the larger issues which have become cancerous to the progress of the local league.
It is important to stress that hooliganism in our game has a tacit endorsement of those at the top. It is, therefore, not surprising that they are unable to deal with it. Most of them have football teams and benefit from the chaos. It is, therefore, no wonder that in the heart of this brutal murder of Pooley, is a man bearing the title ‘Honourable’ and who failed to give meaning to the title he desperately seeks respect from. A former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, bankroller of Nsoatreman Football Club, is heavily fingered to have inspired the madness that eventually consumed Pooley.
His name has been mentioned by almost everyone who was at the game. In one of the accounts, Pooley was said to have apologised to him over something he might have said. It is obvious the apology was not accepted. It is no coincidence that most of those being processed for court include a man said to be his bodyguard and an active instigator of the violence; a lady, Akosua China, said to be “dangerous” and who is also accused of throwing stone at the murdered fan. She is also quoted to have said “edwuma no esi”, to wit: “The job is finished” soon as Pooley was stabbed.
Pooley, who left behind five children and a wife he married some six months ago, didn’t deserve to be mauled in this cruel manner. If for nothing at all, he deserved to be protected against those hoodlums who took his life. The owners of the league created a fertile ground for his life to be cut short. As a football club, Kotoko must insist on the speedy prosecution of his killers. It may not bring him back to life; but it will restore dignity to his memory, as well as give the family closure.
For once, the Porcupine must show the importance of its quills against predators who seek to consume its warriors.
