Sekondi Eleven Wise

Sekondi Eleven Wise football club is a Ghanaian based football club in the Western Region of the country, also known by their nickname, “The Western Show Boys”, Sekondi Eleven Wise football Club is based in Sekondi and presently plays its home matches at the Essipong Sports Stadium in Sekondi, in the Western Region of Ghana.

Before football reached Western Region, Specifically Sekondi-Takoradi, the people in the town were mainly workers who engaged in industrial work. Railway construction was the dominant work that the young men in the Sekondi Essikado engaged in after completing elementary school. Railway lines constructed from Sekondi-Takoradi precisely from Kojokrom through Tarkwa to Obuasi, and finally to Kumasi. These lines were to help facilitate the transportation of heavy mining materials needed to aid in the transportation of timber logs to the coastal areas for export. Fresh fishes were also exported from Shama, Sekondi-Takoradi to Kumasi. Other works in the city included Ghana Cement Company, Ghapoha, and Paper Service Conversion.
There was very a very big place called “Location” where all the departments’ offices were situated. This location served as a workshop where spare parts needed for mining activities were manufactured. The workers played football together after they have closed from work. From there, some teams were formed in the region and they played purposely for pleasure. (Interview with Nana Kwesi Amoh III, Ebusuapanyin of Essikado, 25th march 2001).

Two main teams sprung up when football was introduced into the Western Region, Mosquitoes and Butterflies of British _Essikadu and the Dutch-Sekondi respectively. These names: British-Essikadu and Dutch –Sekondi came about as a result of the British and Dutch occupation of Sekondi. These two teams were both managed by team players themselves. The players wore no football boots in playing but had jerseys on when on the field of play. They were also paid for playing as they played for pleasure.
The evolvement of Sekondi Eleven Wise in 1919 saw to these two less formidable even though they still existed after the formation of Eleven Wise. Later, most of the players of the pioneer teams found themselves in Eleven Wise team which was later to become the core football club in the Sekondi-Essikadu area and the entire region as a whole. (Interview with the Late Edward Acquah, former player of Secondi Eleven Wise dated, 6th February 2001).

On Wednesday, 9th April, 1919, four gentlemen who were businessmen in Sekondi decided to establish a football team for the Sekondi Township having known and played football with each other for a very long time while contemplating on the name to use, they unanimously agreed to use the first letters of their surnames. These men were: Wilson, Insadoo, Solomon, and Eshun . Combining the first letters of their names, the word “WISE” was created and they agreed on it’s the name for the team. With just eleven players and considering the location that the team was emerging from, the name Sekondi Eleven Wise was best considered the most ideal. The first eleven players of the club where Coleman, Boham, Collins, Steve, Hammond, Kwasampa, Assiam, Atta Wiabo, Myles pete, Kwabena Otto, and Ewiabo.

As the years went by, the club chose a spider in a web as its logo to symbolize the wisdom of the creature. Going by the motto “Never Despair” Sekondi Eleven Wise had the upstanding as a force to reckon with on the field of play. It was, however, the third oldest football Club in Ghana after Excelsior and Accra Heart of Oak during the l940’s but was and still is the second oldest existing football club and had produced many talented players for the nation.

Most of the club’s players were recruited from the department games which were organized by the various departments found in the numerous economic sectors in the region. These included the Railway Corporation, Ghana Cement Company, Electricity Company, Paper Convention of these players were relatives of former plyers of the club. They included Edward Acquah Kwashie, Nyarko, Arthur, Cromwell, S.K ababio and Quanoo. Other players were Nkum, Mills,Ansah, Baba Kasum, Kweku Sarpei, Kwsi Ntsim etc. Alll of them played in the 1950’s and 1960’s with most of them playing vital roles in the 1960’s success of the club when they won their first National First Division League trophy in Ghana. The team played out of passion and were not paid for their services. They never wore any football boosts on the field of play but put on jerseys bandaged their feet. They also received jerseys and footballs from their seamen colleagues in the form of presents.
A 63 year old former player of Eleven Wise, Alhaji Abdullai explained that after the formation of the club, it had its home ground at Yensuado in Sekondi where it trained and played its home matches on that Park. With the advancement in age and construction of the Sekondi Gyandu Park, the club moved its home ground to the new park.The reason for the relocation was that, Yensuado Township began to grow large and there for a big market centre hence the use of the park for the construction of this market centre. The club chose red and white as its traditional colours and their jerseys were painted in this colours.

Beautifully dressed in their jersey, they played and won serveral matches.
Before Ghana attained independence,Sekondi Eleven Wise had establish itself very strong among the other teams in the country. Some of these teams were Accra Hearts of Oak ,Accra Great Olympics, Accra standfast, Accra Argonauts, Cape Coast Venomous Vipers, and Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs. Others included Sekondi Hasacas, Kumasi Evergreens, Obuasi Hearts of Oak, and Obuasi Evertons. During this period, there was no any major organised national league for the clubs.

The clubs just played on friendly terms both home and away. The first attempt to organize a national league was during the turbulent last days of Richard Akwei, the President of the Gold Coast Football Union in 1956. The maiden contest was poorly organizes as the competition took off with only the teams from the south such as Sekondi Eleven Wise, Mysterious Dwarfs, Accra Hearts of Oak, Sekondi Hasacas, and Cape Coast Vipers.

In the end, Accra Hearts of Oak and Sekondi Eleven Wise won gold and silver medals respectively.It was after Ghana had gained its independence that the national football league was well organized in 1958 under the chairmanship of OheneDjan.

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