FEATURE – THUNDER F.C AND THE MAN BEHIND-THE-SCENES

THE MAN BEHIND THE CLUB

Ghana is no doubt one of the countries in the world which can boast of raw talents as far as football is concerned. At least the plethora of football prospects dotted around every nook and cranny of the country points to that direction.

Talent is one thing and fulfilling its potential to the core is another, but there’s a black hole that lies between talent and its fulfillment – you make the wrong choice/s and you fall into that ditch. Apparently the wrong moves has led some football talents in the wrong direction and to the wrong people, ruining their natural given talent in the process.

There are many ‘football administrators’ out there who parade themselves as messiahs –– some with genuine intention to unearth these talents and some are unscrupulous persons who are simply there to exploit these talented but vulnerable prospects. But one business man called ABDULLAI ANAS, known by many as Thunder is the owner and Bankroller of THUNDER F.C, at least from his modus-operandi, is one breed of a kind, a genuine gentleman by all standards who has ventured into football to springboard these talents into the upper echelons of the world football talent pool.

For Mr. Abdullai football administration isn’t just to make money but it provides him the opportunity to give a leaning to these young ones. So he’ll go all out to give them the best of care for them to thrive. No wonder he has a makeshift clubhouse where about 90% of the players reside and commute to their training grounds almost everyday and their upkeep is on him as well.

THE CLUB — THUNDER F.C

THUNDER F.C is a Division Two Club in the Greater Accra Region, trains and plays their matches at the Avenor Park in the Nation’s Capital.

I found my way to their training ground on one blessed Monday morning to have first-hand information for ghanafootballnews.com.

I met the coach in the person of Ibrahim Otoo who was busy and briskly taking his charges through some training routines and I decided to engage him about his work with the club and how much prepared they were towards the upcoming Regional Division Two League.

“We’re preparing for the league. We’ve played some high profile matches and the results are pretty good. We’ve played against Kwashiman fc, Emmanuel fc etc. I think with the crop of players we have now and the training drills we take them through we can do better in the upcoming league”. Coach Otoo stated

The captain of the side Abdul Latif didn’t mince words when asked about the competence of the flock he leads; “As you can see for yourself, the boys are training hard and can’t wait for the league to commence. We’ll go far in the league Inshaa Allah”.

Persons like Abdullai Anas and THUNDER FC need the mileage, the attention and all the helps to be able to enhance the enabling environment they’ve created to capture even more abundant talents dotted around the streets, refine and aid them to realize their dreams of becoming professionals.

By:Tang Shuaib/Twitter:@tangdeboy