It has been a roller-coaster ride for long serving supporters of Sekondi Hasaacas Football Club. Honestly, it has been a suffocating era for anyone who started following the “Giants of the West” from the last two decades – that said, there are glimpses of positive waves.
For the starters; Sekondi Hasaacas has provided four skippers for the Black Stars of Ghana at different eras – two of the four went all the way to win the African Cup of Nations titles, Aggrey Fynn captained Ghana to its first AFCON in 1963 and Emmanuel Quarshie led the Black Stars in 1982 to the fourth and last AFCON title.
One can conclude that mostly players of Sekondi Hasaacas get good spells with the Black Stars – the oldies can give you more names and Goalkeeper Joseph Carr(another Giant) will feature predominantly in any list.
The 1980 and 1984 skippers of the Black Stars, the Late James Kukuu Dadzie and Late Isaac Paha respectively were Sekondi Hasaacas players during their stints as skippers of the senior national team.
Sekondi Hasaacas has aided handsomely to football in the country.
Histories are sacred and histories are the rarest of gifts.
“Play the Game, but Lovely” – that’s a touchy slogan by the “Giants of the West” – Hasmal came into existence on April 1931, courtesy a group of Accra Hearts of Oak supporters who were transferred from Accra to Sekondi.
Similarly, Sekondi Hasaacas also birthed Liberty Professionals in 1996, when the late Alhaji Sly Tetteh decided to relegate his position at Sekondi Hasaacas to form his Liberty Professionals.
But that appeared to be that and now….
The fortunes of the club now don’t reflect a tenth of what has been described up there, but who will want to fist over spilled milk – not me, so let’s soldier on.
The old ways of running football: the era where spectators get the bye to watch games for free, the monetization of football which every club needs to adjust somehow.
To continue the mockery and dwelling on what the club failed to do in the last three decades will be akin to trying to push the club till it suffocates and joins the other traditional clubs in a more deprived state according to the Ghana Football pyramid.
Now to the questions I attempted to provide the answers for – what’s the new wave?
The club is currently under the management of IMC Chairman, Mr. Samuel Arbuah – the 15th chairman of Sekondi Hasaacas FC.
Like many other clubs and even other companies in the country, Sekondi Hasaacas has constantly cried for a financial assistance, Hasmal hasn’t hidden its empty vault, but that notwithstanding progress is however puffing out from certain projects under the new administration despite a wailing budget.
• The www.sekondihasaacasfc.com and other social media handles.
Sekondi Hasaacas has found its feet on the online space and despite going down on the pyramid from the Ghana Premier League after the 2015-16 season still finds the name among the top 10 Clubs in Ghana with great social media presence.
Glowing display of graphic designs on the Club’s Facebook and Twitter accounts accompanied by huge applauds from supporters, non-supporters and even journalists.
Today marks exactly 83 years since @AsanteKotoko_SC was established on August 31, 1935. #Hasmal media team looked into the archives and settled on the best players to have had stints with both Sekondi Hasaacas FC and Kumasi Asante Kotoko. #RIP Head Coach Herbert Addo pic.twitter.com/KEBBdH11Ui
— Sekondi Hasaacas FC (@SekHasaacas) August 31, 2018
Hasmal is among the less than 5 out of the 48 Division One League clubs owning a website.
• The Club House Renovation Project.
There has been a growing campaign to
renovate the Sekondi Hasaacas Club House. The move according to the official communique is to solve 2 major challenges draining the club financially;
1. To be able to accommodate our players from outside Sekondi-Takoradi.
2. To cut down on the camping-budget during match days.
In a way there’s a positive vibe and comely approach, but there should be more – otherwise a good start. I’m impressed, the current administration must firm up the grip on the kind of thinking that has gone into the club recently.
• The Support Base
Sekondi Hasaacas has a good base of support, one of the most disciplined and that has evidently been showcased in a masterly manner over the years.
The Support base of the club stretches across the region and even outside.
The counterarguments are that local clubs have inadequate or nonexistent structures in place – that’s a palpable falsehood in the case of Sekondi Hasaacas FC.
There’s a well-structured management in place, but lacking the push financially and it’s understandable in the case where almost everything football is dwindling in the country – is the business side of the game underexploited by the club?
Rolling over to the 2017-18 season of the Division One League; Management of the club made it a policy to register players that meet the European market – those with height and with the age ranging between 15 and 19 years mostly.
These revelations are contrary of what we rarely hear or read about the club, therefore it’s indeed prudent that management of the club are given audience and helped out to ensure the change is realized.
