A Ghanaian businessman who is the Chief Executive Officer of Peiro Company Limited, a tailing constructing firm in his quest to revive colts football has sponsored the just ended Obuasi East colts league.
Obuasi is noted to be a breeding grounds of football talents in the country. The mining town has produced prominent footballers who have served the country in diverse ways.
Notable among them include former Black Stars captain John Mensah, Black stars players; Jonathan Mensah and Mubarak Wakaso, Shaibu Yakubu and Abdul Issah Rahman who honed their talents at the erstwhile Obuasi Ajax Academy and AshantiGold FC.
However, football in Obuasi has seen a downward trend with most of the youth losing interest in the game as a result of the ban imposed on Ashanti Gold by the GFA . According to the connoisseurs of the game, reviving grassroots football will be the bedrock for improvement of football in Obuasi and the country at large.
According to the Chief Executive officer of Big Peiro company, Peter Armah Kpolly who was speaking at the final of the Obuasi East colts league, he was motivated by the football talent pool that Obuasi has, to unearth them and showcase them to the world.
He said Obuasi has rich history in producing football talents hence it was important for investors to pay attention to football, invest in it to improve the game.
” I want to throw a challenge to business owners to turn our attention to grassroot football which serves as a breeding grounds for football talents. Investing in football will give hopes to the youth who would want to harness their God- given talent”.
Mr. Kpolly sponsored all the 120 matches that was played with money, 16 jerseys for the referees, 6 new balls as match day balls, he provided P.A system for commentary for 12 weeks , canopy and chairs for 12 weeks and put the pitch in shape for the matches.
At the end of the marathon league, below were how the teams fared at the various categories;
Under 13
Winner : Nacoro Babies
Second: Young Adansi
Under : 15
Nacoro Babies fc
Second : Boca Juniors fc
Under: 17
Nacoro Babies FC
Second: MVPs fc
Division one
Under :13
Boete Monaco fc
Second : Obuasi Freedom Fighters
Under 15
Winner : Waterso power fc
Second :Obuasi Juventus/Seer sporting club
Under 17
Winner: Obuasi Freedom Fighters
Obuasi Juventus fc/Seer sporting club
The Obuasi East District football chairman Abdul kadiri issah also known as Baba Armando lauded the CEO of Big Peiro company Limited for sponsoring this year’s edition of the Obuasi East colts league.
He said the vision of the Association to revive colts football aligns with the objectives of the Big Peiro company which is to develop the talents of the youth and grow grassroot football.
” Our goal is to bring back the love of Colt’s football the young talented players in obuasi East together no matter the gender ,we want the grassroot football to come back, we hope by 5 to 10 years time we will see some of our players playing for Ghana national team’s either under 17,15 and 20 .
Again, he said they are working on the gfa policy of ‘catch them Young referees’ which be said are all geared towards developing football in tbe district.
He called on corporate bodies to come and support them to enable them select 30 players for each leve, that is, under 13’1517 who would be trained each month to represent obuasi East at the regional level in Kumasi.