Former Ghana under-17 captain Eric Ayiah has revealed that he was three expelled during a national under-17 trials in Greater Accra for the Black Starlets team.
The forward first engaged himself in the Kumasi edition of the trials but was unable to make the final squad to go for the national trials.
Speaking exclusively to Sportsworldghana.com, Ayiah said: “I was schooling in Kumasi when we heard the national under-17 team will be having a justify your inclusion in OWASS.”
“My sports-master took four players there but we were all unable to make the Kumasi list after the end of the trial.”
Ayiah also added that his omission wasn’t the end of his determination to play for Ghana as he convinced his sports-master back then to help him partake in the Accra trials, liaising with Charity Stars.
He emphasised: “After the Kumasi failure, I told my coach I want to try again in the Accra editions because they had not played. He also agreed and saw me off on the day I had to leave for Accra at Legon Presec.”
“Luckily for me Charity Stars were also presenting players for the trials so my sports-master spoke to the team’s CEO and he agreed to add me to their squad.”
The 21-year-old said he was told by the coaches present to step aside because he was ‘too old’ for the category they were looking for, despite being one of the smallest people present.
“They told me I was too old because I was very hairy. So I had to shave and go back again but to no avail,
because I was sacked again,” Ayiah recalled.
“On the third time, things were getting out of hands as they said to me… ‘I was too old’, so I went aside.”
“It was my CEO who approached some of the organisers to inform them I was good before they gave me the opportunity to play.”
Eric Ayiah went on to become one of three players to be picked for the final showpiece in Tema, before going on to represent Ghana.
