African Cup of Nations 2008
A little late, but better than never for this one...
Last week, we left the kids in the care of Chris and Julie's cook/housekeeper, Ruby, and headed off to the opening match of the African Cup of Nations (CAN 2008). A little nervous about that as we didn't want Gov to be a hassle for Ruby... more on that later.
Ghana was set to play Guinea and as is typical, I suppose, of anything big in Africa, the rumours were rampant, and no one believed the game would start on time... add the open ceremonies, and we wondered if we'd be home by midnight from the alleged 5pm kickoff.
Rumours that the gates would close at 3pm for the 5pm game proved to be unfounded, thankfully, as we showed up about 430ish.
We were all very surprised at the order and efficiency of the entrance to the game. Each ticket had a chip in it, and you waved it at an electronic reader (just like at many offices). A green light came on and you were able to pass through a head to toe turnstile - one at a time. A staff member was on the other side of the bars to help, another staff member punched your ticket after you got through the gate, and yet another pointed you towards the proper gate.
That was all in contrast to the chaos outside of the stadium where most of the available ground was filled with sellers and hawkers of everything from t-shirts, flags, and various other Ghana-fied items to plantain chips, water and meat kebabs were available.
Apparently, our experience was not necessarily representative of the experiences around the country
Once inside, the stadium was pretty energetic. Even before the tournament started, people around town were all wearing various CAN 2008 t-shirts and showing off the Ghana colours. Once inside, it was taken to a whole new level. It was a sea of Green, Gold and Red.
Of course, if you look at the Teams involved in the tournament, it's not so odd to see a sea of those colours. Apparently, there were some Guinea supporters just beside us, but except for a missing black start somewhere, you'd never know.
The opening ceremony was followed by a bunch of the performers sticking around to help clear the field of the protective covering and plastic squares used to protect the pitch. And then the warm up started and the crowd went nuts as the Ghanaian players all wore warmup jerseys with #10 and Appiah on the back - he's the captain, and currently injured. Leaf fans can think about the time that the Leafs wore Salming's #21 during the warm-up when they celebrated his career, except 10 times louder.
The game was great with Ghana dominating the first half, but unable to finish (all Swedish, no Finish?). Ghana finally scored on a penalty shot in the 2nd half, only to be followed by a Guinean goal. Ghana still had control of the game, but couldn't score, until shortly before the end of regulation time when Sulley Muntari just hoofed a balled into the net.
The crowd went NUTS!!! Everyone had been cheering, but kind of down after Guinea scored their goal, and worried that it would be one of those games where you dominate, but the other team gets a garbage goal and you go away the loser. When Ghana scored, the noise and celebration was incredible - people running everywhere, shaking their water bottles, dancing, blowing their horns - it was incredible to be in amongst it all.
The funny thing is that the week before the tournament, we were sitting around with a few Star beers, and saying we should try to get tickets. Realising that this would involved some effort, and just generally trying to figure out how such an event is put together in Africa seemed daunting. But Chris had the brilliant idea of just asking his night guard if he was interested in getting tickets for us - 1) he would know what the deal is with tickets, and 2) he wouldn't mind standing in line for a small commission on each ticket.
To give you an idea, we paid him $20 for each $15 ticket. So he made $20 on the deal. The average salary of a guard is about $60 a month. Those numbers help you understand the pay scale here - I think he's quite happy to spend a few hours a few days in a row to hunt down tickets.
Other people at the High Commission where Chris works had such dramas with getting tickets, and with thinking they had some, but finding out they didn't, etc. We just outsourced it all - and Livingstone, the guard, did get the run around - tickets were supposed to go on sale Dec 31st, then they said, come back tomorrow a few times, before we got them. Apparently, Livingstone it the local ticket-buyer now for a few of Chris's co-workers.
We've also asked him to get a few tickets to the Ivory Coast-Mali game on Tuesday to see what a non-Ghana game is like at the stadium.
And Ruby said that Govan was great, she even managed to put him on her back Ghanaian-style - Kelly is working on getting that down, and hopefully we'll post a pic before we head home. Ruby showed us shortly after we arrived in Accra how to do this, but Govan was not in the mood - ever since he seemed to shy away from Ruby. He'd laugh and smile with her, but if she tried to pick him up, he'd run away - it's become a bit of a game now as well. But today, when Ruby stopped by, she held out her arms, and he did go to her, so I think he's finally softened up there.
Photos from the tournament start here and I made some notes to each of the pictures... or check out the full Ghana photo set.
In other news, much like Thais, Indonesians, and Cambodians, the people of Ghana seem to like Dan's beard. Walking around town, the ratio of "I like you beard" to "Hey, Osama!" is about 5 to 1.
Last week, we left the kids in the care of Chris and Julie's cook/housekeeper, Ruby, and headed off to the opening match of the African Cup of Nations (CAN 2008). A little nervous about that as we didn't want Gov to be a hassle for Ruby... more on that later.
Ghana was set to play Guinea and as is typical, I suppose, of anything big in Africa, the rumours were rampant, and no one believed the game would start on time... add the open ceremonies, and we wondered if we'd be home by midnight from the alleged 5pm kickoff.
Rumours that the gates would close at 3pm for the 5pm game proved to be unfounded, thankfully, as we showed up about 430ish.
We were all very surprised at the order and efficiency of the entrance to the game. Each ticket had a chip in it, and you waved it at an electronic reader (just like at many offices). A green light came on and you were able to pass through a head to toe turnstile - one at a time. A staff member was on the other side of the bars to help, another staff member punched your ticket after you got through the gate, and yet another pointed you towards the proper gate.
That was all in contrast to the chaos outside of the stadium where most of the available ground was filled with sellers and hawkers of everything from t-shirts, flags, and various other Ghana-fied items to plantain chips, water and meat kebabs were available.
Apparently, our experience was not necessarily representative of the experiences around the country
Once inside, the stadium was pretty energetic. Even before the tournament started, people around town were all wearing various CAN 2008 t-shirts and showing off the Ghana colours. Once inside, it was taken to a whole new level. It was a sea of Green, Gold and Red.
Of course, if you look at the Teams involved in the tournament, it's not so odd to see a sea of those colours. Apparently, there were some Guinea supporters just beside us, but except for a missing black start somewhere, you'd never know.
The opening ceremony was followed by a bunch of the performers sticking around to help clear the field of the protective covering and plastic squares used to protect the pitch. And then the warm up started and the crowd went nuts as the Ghanaian players all wore warmup jerseys with #10 and Appiah on the back - he's the captain, and currently injured. Leaf fans can think about the time that the Leafs wore Salming's #21 during the warm-up when they celebrated his career, except 10 times louder.
The game was great with Ghana dominating the first half, but unable to finish (all Swedish, no Finish?). Ghana finally scored on a penalty shot in the 2nd half, only to be followed by a Guinean goal. Ghana still had control of the game, but couldn't score, until shortly before the end of regulation time when Sulley Muntari just hoofed a balled into the net.
The crowd went NUTS!!! Everyone had been cheering, but kind of down after Guinea scored their goal, and worried that it would be one of those games where you dominate, but the other team gets a garbage goal and you go away the loser. When Ghana scored, the noise and celebration was incredible - people running everywhere, shaking their water bottles, dancing, blowing their horns - it was incredible to be in amongst it all.
The funny thing is that the week before the tournament, we were sitting around with a few Star beers, and saying we should try to get tickets. Realising that this would involved some effort, and just generally trying to figure out how such an event is put together in Africa seemed daunting. But Chris had the brilliant idea of just asking his night guard if he was interested in getting tickets for us - 1) he would know what the deal is with tickets, and 2) he wouldn't mind standing in line for a small commission on each ticket.
To give you an idea, we paid him $20 for each $15 ticket. So he made $20 on the deal. The average salary of a guard is about $60 a month. Those numbers help you understand the pay scale here - I think he's quite happy to spend a few hours a few days in a row to hunt down tickets.
Other people at the High Commission where Chris works had such dramas with getting tickets, and with thinking they had some, but finding out they didn't, etc. We just outsourced it all - and Livingstone, the guard, did get the run around - tickets were supposed to go on sale Dec 31st, then they said, come back tomorrow a few times, before we got them. Apparently, Livingstone it the local ticket-buyer now for a few of Chris's co-workers.
We've also asked him to get a few tickets to the Ivory Coast-Mali game on Tuesday to see what a non-Ghana game is like at the stadium.
And Ruby said that Govan was great, she even managed to put him on her back Ghanaian-style - Kelly is working on getting that down, and hopefully we'll post a pic before we head home. Ruby showed us shortly after we arrived in Accra how to do this, but Govan was not in the mood - ever since he seemed to shy away from Ruby. He'd laugh and smile with her, but if she tried to pick him up, he'd run away - it's become a bit of a game now as well. But today, when Ruby stopped by, she held out her arms, and he did go to her, so I think he's finally softened up there.
Photos from the tournament start here and I made some notes to each of the pictures... or check out the full Ghana photo set.
In other news, much like Thais, Indonesians, and Cambodians, the people of Ghana seem to like Dan's beard. Walking around town, the ratio of "I like you beard" to "Hey, Osama!" is about 5 to 1.
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