‘To err is human and to forgive is divine’
I can confidently say without any shred of Doubt, that the above addage is something Black Stars goalkeeper Razak Braimah kept reflecting over in the past 36 hours that he incurred the wrath of Ghanaians for his filthy reactions to criticisms about his performances in the ongoing African Cup of nations in Gabon.
The young shot-stopper, in his reaction to critics recorded a video of himself pouring insult on followers of the Black Stars as well as a section of the media who have rightly or wrongly given their openions on his performances in Africa’s flagship competetpion.
As if recording the video wasnt enough, Brimah decided to post it on his Facebook timeline for the world to watch.
However, That ‘Childish’ act by the Spain based keeper backfired and attracted widespread condemnation among Ghanaians with millions calling for his expulsion from the National team camp despite his swiftness in rendering an unqualified public apology for his utterances.
But will it have been in the best interest of team looking to end a 35-year trophy drought to sack a player who has done wrong and apologised upon realization?
As a young football loving Ghanaian, I sincerly dont believe it would have been a wise option.
As much as I agree the gravity of Razak Braimah’s offense is huge and ought to be punished by the overseers of our football- the Ghana Football Association, I think the pace at which he realized it and rendered the apology is worth commending and based on that, i believe he should be given a second chance to re-write his wrong and turn a new leaf. So on that score, I hail the GFA for finding the player $2,500 instead of sacking him from the team’s camp. Perfect decision if you ask me!
Who Knows? That might just be a turning point in his performances as well.
It is true players have commited in the past and were sacked from the Black Stars’ camp with haste.
It is also true that what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander but in fairness, which of the players who have committed wrong in the past, have apologised in a swift manner as Braimah has done?. None so long as I can remember.
But interestingly, those same players were eventually allowed back in the National team after apologising what ever wrong they committed.
And so if apology is the basis for any player who do wrong, to be forgiven and allowed back into the folds of the Black Stars, then I believe Raazak Braimah has done the honourable thing and having been equally sanctioned by the GFA, we as Ghanaians have to forgive him and move on.
Lets also not forget that we are in the middle of a very important assignment and any action we take will have a reaction on our team be it positive or negative and in order to avoid any negative wind to blow in the camp of our most cherished football team, the Black Stars, W, the fans have to cease fire and focus on supporting the boys for them to reach our goals for the assignment.
Not in anyway condoning what Razak Braimah did and I think he deserves every punishment The GFA deem fit for his utterances.
Expulsion from the team’s camp shouldn’t have been out of place but timing was of essence and that should have affected the team spirit in our semi final clash with Cameroon on Thursday.
Had the GFA decided to sack the young keeper from Gabon and should that action goes on to sway the attention of the team from lifting the ultimate, Ghanaians, myself included, will not forgive Football People.
So I believe therefore that the GFA’s decision on Razak Braimah is in the best interest of Ghana and it will be in that same National interest if we let by-gones be by-gones and move on with our support for the Black Stars so that together we can accomplish our primary aim for going to Gabon.
God Bless our homeland Ghana and Make our nation great and strong.
