Ghana’s amputee footballers strive for international glory

ACCRA: On a field scattered with rubbish, ripe with the smell of urine and criss-crossed by commuters and the occasional truck, a group of Ghanaian footballers practice drills, the early morning sun glinting off their metal crutches.

While footballers around the globe have their eyes on Brazil, Ghana’s national amputee football team is gearing up to compete in a world cup of its own in Mexico later this year.

But standing between the Black Challenge side and victory in the 2014 Amputee Football World Cup are not just old foes, such as Argentina and Liberia.

The team’s ability to attract support for their unique brand of football is also in the balance, and unless they can raise the money needed to fund the trip, they may not go at all but that hasn’t stopped them preparing.

“We don’t have much time, so we have to train hard,” said one of the team’s coaches, Benjamin Armah.

The Black Challenge started officially in 2007 — the same year the team won the first Cup of African Nations for Amputee Football, said Theodore Viwotor, the administrative secretary for the Ghana Amputee Football Association.

Local governments in Ghana are required to give part of their budget to support people with disabilities. But the bureaucracy required to access the money is daunting.

At traffic lights in Accra, legless men on skateboards appear at the windows of waiting drivers, asking for spare change.

“Many of these people would probably be beggars or have lost hope in life,” said Viwotor. “When you watch a one-legged person playing, it gives a sort of hope.”

Frank Wilson, a non-disabled footballer who watched the Black Challenge play from the side-lines, was impressed by the rigours of the adapted game.

“They put in a lot of effort to play their game,” said Wilson.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2014.

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