On this day 5 April 1981 (Exactly 38 years ago) Real Tamale United (RTU) hit the headlines in the match day 10 of the Ghana Football League, when they ended Asante Kotoko’s unbeaten run with a painful 1- 0 win in Kumasi.
A powerful 40th minute free kick by veteran P. M. K. Kusi did the trick.
On this day 5 April 1950(Exactly 69 years ago) Former Ghanaian professional boxer Roy “The Black Flash” Ankrah, who won the Gold Coast Flyweight title, Gold Coast Bantamweight title, Gold Coast Featherweight title, Gold Coast Lightweight title and British Empire Super Featherweight title KOs Danny Nangle of United Kingdom in round five at the New Baths, Willemhall, West Midlands, United Kingdom, in a Super featherweight contest.
On this day 5 April 2009(Exactly 10 years ago) Ghana was drawn with England, Uruguay & Kazakhsatan for the 2009 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, which Ghana won later in that year, becoming the only African country to date to win the competition.
“For eight years we have not been to the U-20 World Cup so to return as champions of Africa is remarkable. It’s gratifying to me that we’re not just winning but also doing so by playing beautiful football,” Ghana coach, Sellas Tetteh said ahead of the draw.
FIFA U-20 World Cup 2009 groups:
Group A
Egypt Paraguay Trinidad & Tobago Italy
Group B
Venezuela Nigeria Tahiti Spain
Group C
Cameroun USA Korea Germany
Group D
Ghana Uruguay Uzbeskistan England
Group E
Brazil Costa Rica Australia Czech
On this day 5 April 2009(Exactly 10years ago) Ten-man Asante Kotoko team bowed out of the Africa Champions League after the former Ghanaian Champions lost 0-2 to Ithihad Khemisset in faraway Morocco. Kotoko had beaten the Moroccans 3-1 three weeks earlier in Ghana; however, the away goal scored by Khemisset helped them to advance to the next stage of the competition on superior away goal difference.
Referee:Huus Lambogoje – Mauritania
Expulsion: Osei Kwame Jnr
On this day 5 April 1915(Exactly 104 years ago) In front of a huge crowd at the new Oriental Park Racetrack in Havana, Cuba,
Jess Willard knocked out the defending champion, Jack Johnson( first African American world heavyweight boxing champion) in round of a scheduled 45-round match to claim the heavyweight title
The bout lasted one hour and 44 minutes–the longest heavyweight title fight of the 20th century. Willard defended his title 36 times with 20 knockouts.
Johnson later claimed to have
intentionally lost the fight, but Willard is widely regarded as winning fairly which is evident from the recorded footage, the comments Johnson made to his cornermen between rounds and that he bet $2500 on himself to win. Willard said, “If he was going to throw the fight, I wish he’d done it sooner. It was hotter than hell out there.” Johnson didn’t followup on his claim after footage of the fight was made available.
Panorama of Willard’s title fight against Jack Johnson in Havana, Cuba, 1915
Johnson found that he could not knock out the giant Willard, who fought as a counterpuncher, making Johnson do all the leading. Johnson began to tire after the 20th round, and was visibly hurt by heavy body punches from Willard in rounds preceding the 26th round knockout
By George ‘Alan Green’ Mahamah