In Ghana football is the sport. From an early age, Ghanaians really do eat, drink, and
sleep football. To play for the Blackstars, Ghana's national team, is every schoolboy's
dream. Many Blackstars players, play their professional football in Europe, in
countries such as Italy, Holland and Germany. Alex Nyarko plays in midfield for a French
team called RC Lens. While Marcel Desailly who played in the French team that won the
World Cup in 1998, was born in Ghana and now plays for Chelsea, a team based in London,
capital of the United Kingdom. Britain’s first black professional footballer, Arthur
Wharton, was Ghanaian. He came to the UK in 1882 and died in the 1930s.
Listen
to the sounds of a football match in Accra,
Ghana - (435K).
(To listen to the clip, your computer may need
to have special audio software. You can download
audio software for free at realaudio.com)
One of Ghana's oldest existing sports is not so well known
outside Africa. The game of oware is played throughout Ghana as well as in other
African countries including Burkina Faso, Togo, Sudan, and Uganda. Oware is a
game for two people, similar to backgammon but played with 24 stones and a very different
board. The board is made from a thick, oblong piece of wood which has twelve, hollowed-out
holes.
In August 1997, history was made when the Oware
World Championships took place at the Royal Festival Hall in London, and received massive
media attention.
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