Dumor died on 18 January 2014 in his London home after a cardiac arrest, having been on the air the day before.

Herbert Mensah, President and Board Chairman of the Ghana Rugby Football Union (GRFU), and Komla were extremely close friends.

Herbert remembered this day in a video note from Europe as though it was yesterday.

The video note is below

–

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Herbert Mensah pays tribute to Komla Dumor 4-yrs on [Video] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Addo, who retired from active coaching in 2016, was one of the nation’s most decorated coaches with a career that lasted close to 40 years.

He helped Aduana Stars to their one and only league title in 2010, but before that, he won titles with Hearts of Oak in 2002, Asante Kotoko in 1988, and AshGold (then Goldfields in 1995 and 1996).

Apart from club work, he had spells with the Black Meteors, Black Satellites, and the Black Stars.

He also coached and won titles in Gabon and Togo.

His last coaching job was with Inter Allies for the 2013/2014 season. He guided them to the final of the MTN FA Cup that year, but they lost to the Porcupine Warriors.

He moved to Hearts of Oak in 2014, but was fired two years later amid issues of non-payment of player salaries and bonuses.

Addo’s time in coaching produced some very notable records. He won the league with Aduana with an unbeaten home record.

His Hearts of Oak of 2002 had the league’s top scorers, Bernard Dong Bortey and Charles Taylor. They both had 18 goals.

The same Hearts team racked 78 points- the highest in the history of the Ghanaian league- and won 25 of their 30 matches.

He was named SWAG Coach of the Year in 1987 and Coach of the Year in 2009/2010.

–

By: Citi Sports Desk

The post Herbert Addo passes on appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Rugby was readmitted as Olympics Sport after an absence of 93 years.

Shortly after the 1924 games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) dropped rugby union as an Olympic sport. Since then, there have been numerous attempts to bring the sport back to the Olympic programme.

In October 2009, the IOC voted at its session in Copenhagen to include the sevens version of the sport in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Mr Mensah said that the re-admittance of Rugby to the Olympics fold, was a momentous occasion in the history of Rugby.

“It is every athlete’s dream to become a gold medal Olympics holder, and the re-admittance of Rugby to the Olympics Games has indeed brought that dream within the grasp of Ghana’s enthusiastic Rugby players – men, women, boys and girls,” he said.

In the 2016 Rio Olympics, 12 teams competed in the sevens version of the Game. Countries that took part included Fiji, Argentina, United States, Brazil, South Africa, France, Australia, Spain, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand and Kenya.

Kenya was chosen from the Africa Region after they qualified at the African Olympic Qualifier in Johannesburg in November 2015.

“There is no reason why Ghana can’t reach the fantastic heights that Kenya has achieved on the world stage of Rugby. We have the athletes and the will, and all that is required is the support from our government, governing bodies including the IOC and corporate sponsors to allow the Ghana Eagles, the national Rugby team of Ghana, to soar to both the Olympics and the various World Rugby cups,” Mensah said.

The GOC Congress took place after a tumultuous period in Ghana’s National governing body history that included the blocking of the Congress from taking place in 2016 through a court action.

In a fiercely contested election, the incumbent President, Prof Francis Dodoo (28 votes), bowed out after losing to Ben Nunoo Mensah (33 votes). The incumbent General Secretary, Mr Richard Akpokavie, retained his position after beating Mohammed Sahnoon.

The Olympic Sports candidates included Mr Herbert Mensah (Rugby), Mr Obo Addy (Ghana Football Association), Mawuko Afadzinu (Ghana Table Tennis Association), Albert Frimpong (Ghana Baseball & Softball Association) and Mr Isaac Duah (Ghana Tennis Federation).

Ghana Rugby is currently preparing to host the Rugby Africa Regional Challenge tournament between Benin, Ghana and Togo, which is scheduled to take place at the Accra Sports Stadium between 28 and 6 May 2017.

Should Ghana emerge as winner of Division 2 of the Africa Rugby tournament, it will be promoted to the Africa Bronze Cup that will put it on the road towards a shot at a Rugby World Cup.

Discussions are also underway with Africa Rugby for admission of Ghana to the Algiers Africa Youth Games in July 2018, that will open the doors for Ghana Rugby to take a youth team to the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.

According to Mensah, there is a very strong bond that binds Rugby and the Olympics Movement together in the form of the values both share.

“Rugby’s values of integrity, passion, teamwork, discipline and respect is synonymous with the Olympics values of excellence, friendship and respect. I am on record to say that Rugby goes well beyond boys and girls having fun with an oval ball. It is about building character based on the values of Rugby and indeed on the Olympics’ values,” Mensah explained.

–

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana Rugby: Herbert Mensah joins GOC Board appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He made this assertion in an interview on GBC 24’s New Sports days ago: “the NSA, government, GOC have not been as forthcoming as we would have hoped that they would be. With the change of government, we are hoping that there might be a better approach to minority sports”

[contextly_sidebar id=”tdxUXt3jx1BllMRKtHOdn4l1m25Kdmps”]“We try and impress on the system that there’s an obligation – a moral obligation, an ethical obligation to provide for all sports, and you cannot ask people to wear the national jersey, represent the state and be absent in your responsibility”, he held.

There have been numerous complaints about how as a nation, we only appear to focus mainly on football, especially the Black Stars, to the detriment of other sports. There have also been endless calls for more involvement and financial commitment by government and other state agencies towards the development of other sport in the country.

“Rugby is the second most popular sport in the world. Why is it that it is not really felt in Ghana? Why is it that there is no funding for it in Ghana? Why is it that successive governments have given absolutely nothing to the game?”, Mr. Mensah lamented about the current situation, before describing as disrespectful, government’s attitude regarding providing requisite support for rugby in the country, especially as the GRFU prepares to host, and participate in forthcoming international tournaments.

“There has to be first, a dialogue, because that means you respect us. Where there is no dialogue, then there is no respect, and there has been no dialogue, so we have been disrespected over there since I got involved in rugby, by senior administrators who are happy to take public office but not to serve the people.”

That notwithstanding, Mr. Mensah expressed his satisfaction at the progress of players, and the overall pace at which the game is developing, though he admitted that there’s still much to be done.

“Injuries were at a minimum, the quality of play has improved massively, we showed levels of physicality that I’ve not seen in the two-and-half years or so that I’ve been around. We saw fitness levels which have improved rapidly although again, not quite where I want it to be. I want Ghana rugby to have levels of fitness that are global.”

He also disclosed steps that the union is taking to ensure that they sustain Africa’s positive perception of Ghana rugby’s professionalism, including administrative apparatus in the area of compliance and governance, accounting, statistics and data.

On the mental requirement of the game, he emphasized the essence of spirit and resilience to success, saying “rugby is a character issue. Winners are made not from natural talent but from character. Who’s prepared to dig in where the odds are against you? Who’s prepared to fight when it seems as though you’re going to lose. Whose instinct, based upon training and discipline can take you to the next point?”.

–

Source: Ghana Rugby

The post Ghana Rugby has been disrespected – Herbert Mensah appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.