The Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) congratulates the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) on the occasion of the 43rd Annual SWAG AWARDS, the longest running AWARDS ceremony in Ghana where sports excellence is celebrated and honoured.
The prestigious Swag Awards has over the years been the motivation for athletes and officials to compete and excel in their areas of endeavor which we at GOC thinks should have been the preserve of government.
Kudos to all sponsoring partners who have continued to invest in honoring sports excellence and even in talent and infrastructural development.
Without your support, sports in Ghana would be difficult to manage and the dreams of our young talents would have been dashed.
Ayekoo to you all. SWAG ‘da mo ase’.
Incidentally, this year marks the 50th Anniversary of SWAG and as the Ghana Olympic Committee, we can only wish you well and pray the association continue to live the core values of the profession to attain the vision with which this group was formed.
As we appreciate SWAG’s partnership in the promotion of Ghana sports we will urge you to foster unity among sports journalist and extend your membership beyond Accra, Kumasi and the Volta Region.
The role and importance of sports media has not been downplayed by the GOC board hence,the attachment of sports journalists to the various sporting discipline and also the setting up of a media office at the GOC.
It is evident that the above action has paved way for the so-called lesser known sports or least financed sports to get the needed attention they deserved from our sports journalists.
I admit there is more room for improvement, but I will urge the various attachees to continue doing their best to support their various federations to make Ghana a sports nation but not just football.
Government alone cannot single handedly fund all our sports development programs and competitions but businessmen and corporate Ghana crucially through the narratives and commentaries we run on our sports products.
I will urge SWAG and the entire sports media to help the GOC and All federations in building sports brands attractive enough to encourage non-governmental investment.
No matter how much we hate individuals and our eagerness to want to defame and malign them, the interest of the sports must be bigger.
We can all grow in our sports journalism when the sports grow.
We must realize the need to protect the sports brand especially by people whose lively hood depends on the thriving of the sports, we must project the 99 good things that sports is doing and can do, rather than the 1 human institutional errors that we often blow out of proportion. This affect sponsorship, stifle it’s growth. LETS NOT KILL THE SPORTS BRAND.
Although we wish we had done much better at the just ended 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, the performance of many of our young athletes was reassuring and provided compelling reasons for confidence in the future.
The GOC would continue to work and collaborate with SWAG since our primary role is the development and promotion of sports in Ghana.
I wish you all a wonderful night and to the award winners, I say congratulations and continue to write your names in Gold wherever you find yourselves.
Long Live SWAG
Long Live GOC
Long Live Ghana Sports
Credit: General One