Now wallowing in the second tier of Ghana football, Sekondi Eleven Wise, the once great team and pride of the Western Region have seen their prestige and fortunes dissipate into the abyss with the club now not mentioned among the footballing greats of the country.
They are the first Western-based club to win the Ghana Premier League and the first club from the West to represent Ghana in the CAF Inter-Club competition. The club’s status was not what flamboyant chairman Dr John Ackah Blay-Miezah had envisioned after setting the standard of how a football club should be run with his famous ‘Akarakachii’ boys in the 80s.
Ackah Blay-Miezah is one of Ghana’s most well-known supposed conmen. He was a king known as Liina Disca of Allengenzule and had the stool name Nana Ackah Nyanzu II.
Blay is regarded as one of Africa’s greatest conmen, best known for the ‘Oman Ghana Trust Fund’ scheme, which turned him into a villain in Philadelphia, United States.
On the political front, he was a con artist who allegedly defrauded foreigners and the government, as well as caused confusion among his family after his death by convincing them that he had a non-existent $15 billion in a bank abroad.
He was obviously popular for an unpopular reason, but on the football field, he made Eleven Wise one of the most appealing clubs in Ghana and Africa.
Blay Miezah made Wise the team to beat in the 1980s, as well as every player’s dream team. Blay paid for the team’s three-week pre-season trip to Brazil before the start of the 1984 League, making them the first Ghanaian club to do so.
When they returned, each player wore a branded tracksuit and had their own ball, which was unusual at the time. As a result, they earned the name “Africa Brazil,” due to their beautiful brand of football and visiting Brazil.
The team played in the 1983 African Cup Winners Cup after beating local rivals Hasaacas to win the FA Cup in 1982. They suffered an early exit with defeat to Togolese side Agaza.
Blay Miezah, eager to see the team compete in Africa again in 1984, this time by winning the league, decided to fly the entire registered roster of 35 players, along with the technical team, abroad for pre-season.
Despite failing to win the League or the FA Cup, Wise finished second to winners Accra Hearts of Oak.
Dr John Blay Miezah died in 1992 while under house arrest for deceiving and embarrassing the government.
Founded in 1919, Sekondi Eleven Wise were one of the eight pioneer clubs that played in the first ever Ghana Premier League in 156. The other seven clubs were Sekondi Hasaacas, Accra Great Olympics, Accra Hearts of Oak, Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Kumasi Cornerstone, Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs, and Cape Coast Venomous Vipers.
Eleven Wise are the second oldest club in Ghana. The first Ghanaian Club to have its own Sports Newspaper and the third club to win the GPL.
Wise produced one of Ghana’s greatest strikers Edward Acquah, who scored a brace in Black Stars’ 3-all draw against Real Madrid in 1962 at the Accra Sports Stadium.
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Source: www.ghanaweb.com
