Donation Information
Right To Play is a registered charity in England and Wales, charity no. 1112404.
Please donate online by following the link above (through Charity Choice) or send a cheque made payable to "Right To Play UK" to:
Right To Play UK39 - 43 Brewer Street,
London,
W1F 9UD
+44 (0) 207 734 7946
Ben Pegna's Diary
Thursday 31st May
Our whistle stop tour continues here in Ghana as now we’re back in Accra, the capital city. Yesterday morning we flew to Tamale, in the north of the country. The flight into the interior took just over an hour and gave us an opportunity to experience a day in a less affluent region. |
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Michael Essien with Right To Play Coaches |
On arriving in Tamale, after a brief stop at our hotel, the Gariba Lodge, we headed to the Northern Regional Ministers office, where he entertained us over lunch. The staple diet here has been rice, chicken and yam, although the Minister also treated us to guinea fowl, which went down well with the guys.
From the lunch we headed straight to the ground where we held our second training session of the trip. The session, like the El-Wak one, was conducted by the Chelsea FC players and coaches and attended by local teams, including the Stand Fast team. The kids were under 15 and under 12 in age. Also present were our local Right To Play coaches who were again making notes and observing proceedings and benefiting from the expertise of the Chelsea staff.
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The major difference this time was that the pitch was not grass, or in a stadium, but a deserted wasteland recently marked as a pitch, situated around a small village in a very rural part of Tamale. We were very fortunate to have the Stand Fast under 17 team to help us steward the crowd. They did a great job. |
| Jose Mourinho with the local coaches |
The standard of football was high from the kids who participated, and the coaches all noted the focus and concentration as well as ability despite the heat.
When we had arrived at the pitch, the atmosphere was electric as all the kids clamoured to see Michael Essien, whilst chanting his name and running after our bus. We managed to get out of the bus and clear a way onto the pitch and set up the coaching equipment.
As the afternoon progressed the crowd started to swell, with one radio station reporting that people were now travelling from villages 60kms away to grab a site of the touring party and in particular Michael Essien.
On arrival there had been around one or two thousand people, mostly kids. By the time we left that number had swelled to many thousands.
During the coaching session the crowd had remained remarkably restrained around the edge of the pitch, but at the first sign of the completion of our trip, the pitch was invaded.
As the situation became a bit more lively, we managed to distribute some of the kit to the local coaches for their football teams. Chelsea had brought with them 23 boxes of kit for the trip, with the intention that they would return home with none.
Meanwhile, Michael, thanks to our security guy was back on the bus, as the situation was no longer manageable. It had been great though to see the kids beaming with massive smiles, as they again interacted with the Chelsea players and jostled for a vantage point.
Essien is so popular here and the joy he brought to these children was really pleasurable to watch. As we drove from the field we were followed by hundreds of kids chasing the bus, and many more continued to follow on bike. Some all the way to our hotel, where they continued to wait outside for us.
That evening, we were again treated to another great dinner, where the food was out of the top draw. The only main event being the brief power cut we had.
