The trip to the stadium was not far as such, but the nature of the roads, the traffic and processing to get into the stadium eats away at time and was just slightly late to the game; only 15 minutes. I bought a VVIP ticket and it was only 100 cedis, which as of June 2022 is twenty dollars Australian. So I thought why not and that would mean that I would have a good view to watch the game and relax. The reason why I said I would buy the VVIP ticket was based from my experiences when I watched a test match in Kanpur, India in November 2009. While I think looking back, a culturally enriching experience for me, having throngs of people stare at me and ask rather inappropriate questions when I simply wanted to watch the cricket with my then girlfriend at the time was very irritating and I said that next time I would spend a little bit more to have a good view and not be harassed. I laugh as the ticket for that cricket match was 120 rupees, 4 dollars in 2009 money. But when you are a student on a shoe-string budget, you think about these things at the time and not think about the consequences.
I was in the main grandstand in the centre of the stand looking straight down the centre line of the football pitch. While this view was a great spot, the VVIP section had this cage set up around it which was rather obtrusive and restricted viewing of play when it would to either direction around the edge of the penalty boxes. This was highly irritating as I wanted to watch the game and not have to tilt, lean and move in order to see the match. The seats were very comfortable, like the padded seats you see on the substitute benches of the big clubs of Europe or the benches during the world cup matches. When it was the end of the first half though I had had enough and sat outside of the VVIP section and sat about 15 rows back which would be the VIP section surrounding the VVIP 'cage' I'm dubbing it. This is where I had a much better view of the game and could see everything besides when the ball was close to us near the touchline as the VVIP 'cage' would block the view. There was just no escaping this darn 'cage'!
As for the game, it was a very physical affair with both sides throwing themselves at the football and trying to score. The old hands of Ghanaian football were trying desperately to score, to find anything really, it just wasn't coming for the Hearts of Oak. Real Tamale's defence were all over them applying constant pressure, faster defensive movement, positioning to run the ball out of defence to mount counter attacks, and were physically more dominant through staying more on their feet. Through this, Real Tamale score two of their three goals in the first half from counter attacks, though they were not from the run of play. The visitors controlled the game but simply could not put any past the Hearts of Oak's goals more than three time sin the first half. Hearts just did not have any answers and were constantly struggling physically and mentally. They had looked like a spent force before the halfway mark of the first half!
It was not a big crowd, but I would say that there was about 4-5,000 people there and when Hearts came off for the break there was some jeering and booing as the home side put in a dreadful display. The second half was a slight improvement with Hearts starting to find avenues into Tamale's defensive half, causing some trouble and firing off some attempts on goal. Though some of them were hardly any issue for the keeper, though there were a few that put them on high alert and were close. Despite the improvement, it was not enough to turn the three goal gulf as Tamale score a fourth goal and were constantly pressing, putting Heart's defensive line under enormous pressure where it was close to breaking point and I wondered if the floodgates would open and the visitors would start posting a cricket score.
This did not eventuate with Hearts holding on with dear life and finding a consolation goal late into the second half with the match ending 1-4 in favour of the visitors. When I spoke about this performance, they would scoff and suggest that Hearts had thrown the game, to ensure that certain teams would be relegated or kept up. While this would not surprise me if this came out as the truth at a later stage as Ashanti Gold were found to be caught match fixing and sent two divisions down. I think that they were simply outclassed and it was the final week of Ghanaian Premier League football with Hearts of Oak, the defending champions, outclassed by a team that were fighting to stay in the premier league.
Now the food, well this will be interesting and an experience that I will never forget. Especially now that this will be documented in this blog, it will now be immortalised! Because I was in the VVIP section, we went down the stairs and into a lounge with a kitchen and had drinks on offer with food that we could request and place onto our plates and sit and eat around lounge chairs and tables. As I was by myself I felt that I did stick out as I quietly sat and tried to eat what I had selected and take pictures. People were noticing this and thought that I was very strange, I think that too ha-ha!
I selected what I thought would be beef on skewers, spring rolls and two cola drinks. Well I was told by locals that what I had selected was ox tongue. Now I had a bite of one piece and it was rather chewy, rubbery and tough. I did not like this one bit and was a bit slimy and generally not something that I liked. I tried to swallow that one piece I had and was discretely trying to not make visible convulsion sounds or anything. Though after I fought that piece down I had the spring rolls and then washed them all down with the Puma Cola and the Pukka, which is akin to Cockta in the former Yugoslavian countries, especially when I had some in Belgrade in 2018. I enjoyed that, so Pukka went down a treat.
This was all free as I was a VVIP and I would rather have headed down stairs and had some Ghanaian pies, which are like pasties but thicker pastry and with minced beef inside. They are delicious, I wish I was able to have those with my drinks! But I had to be with the very, VERY, important people and have ox tongue with my colas. There was also Guinness malt drink available and other malt drinks that are very popular in Ghana that I have had in Australia.
While I have had a lot of west African food in Australia, I was not prepared for ANY of this and was a real eye-opener. I found it rather amusing that I was out of my comfort zone, but it was a really great atmosphere and experience. Now that I have had a 'taste' of what a football match is like at the national stadium in Accra, Ghana, I would love to return some stage and watch another game here. Or watch another match or more elsewhere in the country and see what those stadiums are like. I can only assume that I would be placed further out of my comfort zone! This was an unforgettable first experience in Ghana, certainly will not be the last.
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