[ad_1]
AN EXPLOSION FROM THE PAST.
They are 49 years old.
On this day, November 2, 1971, Ghana’s entire then six million population was consumed by shock. That day, a new song emerged, which children will sing forever in memory of the tragic end of a hero;
Here it goes;
“Robert. Papapa (applause). Robert. Papapa (applause).
Robert Mensah, doorman number one … he’s here and he’s an idiot. Kwasia bi te hɔ, ɛyɛ ne ya, wakɔfa pintoa, ode awɔ nenfe … ”
It translates literally (Robert Mensah, Africa’s number one goalkeeper. He only has three days to fly and play abroad. But a jealous idiot stabbed him to death with a broken bottle)
THE STORY: On October 27, 1971, the Ghana Black Stars drew 2-2 with Togo in Lomé and were defeated in Accra, by the same Togolese team 0-1 without Ghana qualifying for the AFCON 1972 in Cameroon.
The next day, as his Black Stars kotoko teammates traveled back to Kumasi in preparation for their African Cup championship semi-final match against the Grand Olympics, Robert Mensah did not join the trip.
He silently went for a drink at the Credo Bar in the neighborhood of Community Tema 7. Suddenly, a fight broke out in the bar.
Tema police inspector CJ Acquaye told the Daily Graphic that a fight had broken out between Agya Awere and Joseph Ackersou, two local men who were also drinking at the bar. Mensah, according to the police report, was involved in the fight.
A third man, a 31-year-old electrician named Isaac Melfah, was taken into custody, accused of having followed Mensah from the bar after the fight and stabbing him. Mensah bled profusely, was rushed to Tema General Hospital and operated on. The prognosis seemed positive. But at 2.30 am on Tuesday, November 2, 1971, Mensah died from his injuries. At the tender age of 32. Bob was gone.
His funeral turned into a larger procession of tragedy, as his body makes a long and winding journey from Tema to Accra, Accra-Kumasi and Kumasi to Cape Coast, occasionally being stopped in other smaller towns because fans wanted to show their last respect. The Daily Graphic reported the arrival of his body in Kumasi;
“There were thousands of mourners, young and old … The schoolchildren refused to attend classes and ran to the Kumasi airport and the sports stadium to pay their last respects … There were crying and crying in the nooks and crannies of the city Traffic still came to a halt as taxis, private cars and commercial vehicles wrapped in the traditional red color of Kumasi Kotoko lined the streets honking their horns in signal of their latest message to Robert Mensah. “
A tro-tro driver was reported to have died at Okomfo Anokye Hospital after drinking his head after viewing the body of Robert Mensah.
The Mensah convoy then headed to Cape Coast, where they had started their career with the Ebusua Dwarves. His coffin was presented at the city hall and then taken, via Victoria Park, to the Cathedral of San Francisco, where he was buried. That day, the Daily Graphic printed on its back cover a photograph of a concrete slab near a kiosk selling cigarettes and soft drinks, 150 yards from Credo Bar in Tema. It was splattered with Mensah’s blood. Perhaps the most moving memory you will ever leave in the minds of Ghanaians
A year later the popular Ghanaian guitar band the Black Kings dedicated a song to him and today the original Siwdoo Stadium, Cape Coast is named after him and a statue was erected in his honor. All this, so that no one forgets the best goalkeeper ever produced in this land. The man who came second in the 1971 Best African Player Awards, behind compatriot Ibrahim Sunday.
Robert ‘Yashin’ Mensah, who stood out for his black T-shirt and magic cap. The goalkeeper who could taunt the most powerful of attackers, throwing the balls back at them, and challenge them to shoot him for another save. And it will save.
Robert Mensah was unique, extremely talented and the kind that comes once, maybe every 100 years. You may doubt, but those who watched it, like my dad, will never forgive you.
When I talk to Osei Kofi, Mensah’s teammate in both Kotoko and Black Stars, he can’t help but cry.
Even after 49 years.
He believes that Mensah’s greatest display of supernatural abilities was that game in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), where Robert single-handedly secured the African Club Cup for Kotoko. Osei Kofi (now Reverend Minister) would say that Mensah’s in-game show would have earned him the FIFA Golden Gloves if it happened today.
That day, Robert saved two penalties, dubiously awarded to the home team, to turn the massive Tata Raphael stadium and its 120,000 spectators into a graveyard.
Mobutu Sessesekou wept when his Kinshasa TP Englebert lost the 1968 African Club Cup final to Kotoko, and it was thanks to the magical efforts of Robert Mensah.
Those who looked at him have always failed to describe him in words, his immense qualities. “Robert was over 6 feet tall and handled a soccer ball with the same dismissive ease with which Joe Louis handled gloves. He had a great sense of anticipation, great physical condition, and the courage and confidence to stand up. of dangerous attackers. And, of course, those magic hands that could lift a ball into the air as simply and effortlessly as the feet of the legendary goal-scoring Pelé will no longer be seen. ” Daily Graphic columnist Addo Twum claimed.
The most, perhaps heartbreaking story that emerged after his death was that Robert had received an offer from a German club to play professional soccer. An unfortunate and untimely death cut short a rare deserved.
Robert Mensah’s popularity transcended beyond Ghana, and the evidence was at his funeral, where the Sports Councils of Togo, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast made donations to his widow.
Forty-six years after his death, let’s never forget the story. The biggest story we’ve ever had, despite its controversies. The story of what a murderer stole from us.
The story of Robert Mensah, one of the greatest we have ever had. And it’s still the best pair of hands we’ve ever produced.
Rest well, number one!
By: Saddick Adams (Sports Obama)
[ad_2]
