Tuesday, August 17, 2010

ADUANA NEED TOTAL SUPPORT — DORMAAHENE (GRAPHIC SPORTS, PAGE 11, AUGUST 17, 2010)

The overlord of the Dormaa state and Patron of Aduana Stars Football Club, Osagyefo Oseadeeyo Agyeman Badu II, has called on football-loving fans and Aduana citizens across the length and breadth of the country and overseas to support the 2010 Glo Premier League champions in cash and in kind towards its participation in the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Champions League to lift the flag of Ghana high.
According to the Omanhene of Dormaa Traditional Area, Aduana Stars have the potential to revive the nostalgic feelings and memories of traditional clubs such as Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts Oak in the annals of CAF club championships.
He said if Aduana got the needed support from all and sundry the club could win the Champions League to make Ghana proud and also revive the fortunes and the massive patronage recorded in the past at the various stadia on the domestic front which is fast dwindling as a result of the poor showing at the continental level.
“This is the time that all football fans in the country, no matter their club affiliation, should throw their weight behind Aduana in its campaign in the CAF Club Championship since the club is going to Africa to defend the flag of Ghana, and its success would help enhance the image of football in the nation”, he stressed. 
Nana Agyeman Badu II made the call at a fund-raising durbar at Dormaa-Ahenkro, the base of Aduana in the Brong Ahafo Region at the weekend to raise funds to support the team’s preparations and subsequent participation in the upcoming CAF Club championship.
In all, a total of GH¢130,000 (¢1.3billion) was realised at the durbar, with the Dormaahene himself donating GH¢15,000 towards the cause. 
He noted that Aduana had come to stay in the Premier League and that the club was determined to go to Africa to prove a point that the debutants winning the domestic elite club division championship was not a fluke, or accidental, which has been recorded in the annals of continental and world football as one of the newly promoted side to the elite division to win the domestic champions title in its first year of promotion to the premiership.
Nana Agyeman Badu, therefore, urged fans of the club both within and outside the country not to relent in their support for the team but to contribute financially to enable the team win more laurels at both the domestic, continental and international levels.
The Omanhene of Dormaa added that since the running of football club, especially at the premiership level, requires huge financial support and more especially going to Arica, there was a need to raise funds to support the team at those levels of the game.
He stated further that the resolve of Aduana to go to Africa implied that the team should be able to play all its home matches at its Nana Agyeman Badu Sports Stadium at Dormaa Ahenkro and therefore tasked the Dormaa Municipal and Dormaa East District Assemblies as part of their development efforts to upgrade the stadium to meet international standards immediately to enable the team honour its home matches during the CAF club competition.
Nana Agyeman Badu noted that when the club played its home matches at Dormaa Ahenkro during the CAF clubs championship, the two assemblies stood to benefit in terms of revenue generation, while commercial activities in the area would also receive a massive boost.
He appealed to the assemblies to, as a matter of urgency, do all they could to rehabilitate the Dormaa Stadium to meet international standards so they would be approved by the CAF inspection team which is expected in the country soon.
He urged the playing body and technical team of the club not to rest on their oars but work harder to win more laurels to justify the investment and confidence reposed in them by both management and fans of the club so as to mobilise more support for the club.

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