On this day 2 March 1966 (Exactly 53 years ago) Sumoo Pappoe ‘Love’ Allotey , a former Ghanaian professional boxer , who won the Ghanaian featherweight title, and British Commonwealth lightweight title, defeated Boualem Belouard of Algeria at Midlands Sporting Club, Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom in a Lightweight Contest.
On this day 2 March 2008 (Exactly 11 years ago) Ashantigold FC scored six times and conceded once to post a massive win over Sahel SC of Niger in the second leg match of the CAF Champion League first round.
The Miners, as the Ghanaians are popularly called, thus qualified on a 6-2 aggregate, having lost by a solitary goal in the first leg. Under the tutelage of David Duncan, former national Under 17 coach, the Obuasi lads shot into the lead as early as the 10th minute when Jonathan Mensah beat goalkeeper Coleman Okedi with a header.
The Nigeriens drew level a minute later with a stunner when Ahmadu Sacko beat Fatau Dauda in goal for Ashantigold with a tricky shot. Sacko hit the back of the net again on 29 minutes, but the referee ruled it offside, as the flag had gone up before his strike. Both teams failed to get any real advantage until the end of the first half.
Six minutes into the second half, Alex Asamoah restored the lead for Ashantigold when he connected a pass from Mubarak Wakassu. The striker missed another chance to extend the lead of Ashantigold on the hour mark but he shot tamely and directly at goalkeeper Coleman. Ashantigold counted three on 60 minutes when Wakassu beat Coleman from the penalty spot in response to an award from Sierra Leonean referee, Rashid Sanusi.
Substitute Sumaila Alhassan tucked home the rebound after keeper Coleman had pushed back a Wakassu shot on 73 minutes to put Ashantigold 4-1 up.
With five minutes to the end of regulation time, Nathaniel Quaye made it 5-1 with a great shot and masterminded the sixth, when his shot deflected off a defender into the net on 87 minutes, to seal victory for Ashantigold.
On this day 2 March 2008 (Exactly 11 years ago) Accra Hearts of Oak managed a 3-1 victory over FC 105 of Gabon in the second leg of the CAF Champions League competition at the Accra Sports Stadium.
But it was not enough for the Phobians to advance to the next stage of the competition, having lost 3-0 in the first leg in Libreville, Gabon a fortnight earlier .
Hearts entered the game with the aim of enacting the 1977 miracle and the first goal scored in the 22nd minute through Micheal Asante, who connected Eric Gawu’s cross to beat goalkeeper Claude Bakale. The goal obviously pointed to the much expected miracle but the quality of materials at the disposal of the Phobians was just not up to the required standard to repeat such a feat.
The Hearts set up lacked the fighting spirit and character to perform such a daunting task.
It failed to set the tone for the predicted 4-0 score line, as the Phobians failed to penetrate the defence of the visitors with an attacking machinery headed by neophytes like Solomon Amoasi and Samuel Affum, backed by Gawu and Asante.
The Hearts attack could not perform the simplest tasks of good ball control and accurate passing of the ball for the needed penetration. Affum and Amoasi on the day proved that they had the potential to blossom into quality players but were not ripe for continental games such as the CAF Champions League.
Every attack initiated by the Phobians met a premature death before entering the defensive third of the opponents.
The Gabonesse, on the other hand ensured that the tempo of the game was calmed on every occasion.
In spite of this, they created two decent chances in the dying minutes of the half but Michael Bruison and Mve Minsta Claude Cedric seemed not prepared to convert the chances, leaving the score line in favour of the home team.
In the second half, Cedric made amends in 56th minute, as he tapped in a lose ball that fell onto his path, deep in the vital area of Hearts, following the inability of the Ghanaians’ defence men to make a first clearance of the ball.
Though the goal seemed to have taken the steam out the Phobians, they managed to reorganize themselves and raided the area of the Gabonesse on countless occasions in search of goals. The pressure was intensified in the last quarter of the game when the Phobians capitalized a numerical disadvantage on the part of the Gabonese after Fabrice Mbandinga was shown the exit for a second bookable offence.
Kofi Abanga scored his first champions league goal for then Ghanaian champions on 82 minutes and what a goal it was!
Abanga’s 15-yard shot zoomed straight into the net for the second goal to spur the Phobians on for the more.
On the stroke of regulation time, Hearts benefited from a penalty when a defender of FC 105 handled the ball in the vital area and Francis Bossman expectedly converted for the Phobians to give them a 3-1 victory and an early exit from the competition.
On this day 2 March 1874 (Exactly 145 years ago) At the fourth meeting of the National Association of Professional Baseball players in Boston, the batter’s box was officially adopted. It is also decided that expulsion will be the penalty for any player betting on his own team and any player betting on any other team will forfeit his pay.
On this day 2 March 1951 (Exactly 68 years ago) 1st NBA All-Star Game was played in Boston. (East 111-94 West)
BACKGROUND
In 1951 few people thought the idea of NBA publicist Haskell Cohen to hold a midseason All-Star Game had much of a chance. One of the few, however, was Walter Brown, then owner of the Boston Celtics.
“It was at the time of the college scandals and basketball had a black eye,” Brown later recalled. “Things were going so badly that even my wife wanted me to get out of the business. But I thought the All-Star Game would be a good thing. I told the league I would take care of all the expenses and all the losses if there were any.
“Even up until the last week, the game was in doubt. A few days before the game, Maurice Podoloff, the Commissioner, called me on the phone and asked me to call it off. He said that everyone he had talked to said it would be a flop, and that the league would look bad.”
The indomitable Brown refused to back down. The game went on, and the rest is history.
A crowd of 10,094 flocked to Boston Garden to watch 20 of the NBA’s finest compete.
Ed Macauley of the hometown Celtics was named the first All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, scoring 20 points for the Eastern Division All-Star in a 111-94 over a Western Division All-Star squad that included Hall of Famer George Mikan and was led in scoring by Alex Groza of the Indianapolis Olympians—one of the so-called “Fabulous Five” that won the NCAA title at Kentucky in 1948 who was later banned for life for his involvement in a point-shaving scandal in a 1949 game at Kentucky.
By George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah