Anton Botha, President of the South African Tuf-of-War Federation has called on Tug Of War Federations across the world to emulate Ghana’s effort towards the development and promotion of the sport in their respective countries.
The Ghana Tug of War Federation has in recent times brought massive entertainment through the sport to the people of Bukom, Mamprobi, Chorkor, Koforidua, Cape Coast, Winneba, etc.
These efforts by the Federation in Ghana earned them an invitation earlier this year to participate in the 9th All African (U23) Tug Of War Championships in Kimberley, South Africa. Unfortunately, the team could not honor the invitation due to difficulties in securing funding for the trip.
The latest championship was organized as part of activities marking the just-ended HPERSSA Week Celebrations which took place at the premises of the University of Education, Winneba on the 2nd of August 2023.
Speaking in an interview with the media, Mr. Botha observed that Asia is currently the world leader regarding the development of the sport at the U-23 level.
He, therefore, called for more efforts to promote the sport in other parts of the world. “We need to follow Ghana’s example and TAKE the sport to the Universities and Colleges….. The OPPORTUNITIES are there. First, we must get it in our different Zonal Games, then the Student Games”.
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Worldwide there is currently a movement to expand our footprint on Junior and Secondary Schools and U-23 at the Universities level. Focus currently is on U-23. In this regard, TWIF has budgeted for a Continental U-23 Championships.
This is the reason why a separate U-23 Championships were scheduled just prior to the African Championships. You will remember that we promoted it on this forum. Sadly, there were no participants, apart from South Africa. Development is now underway in Zimbabwe and, I believe, also in Lesotho to get this off the ground.
TWIF already provides the World platform for U-23s and Schools by way of the Annual Junior World Championships, which is co-presented with either the World Championships or the European Championships. A Development Commission has been established by TWIF at Congress earlier this year to establish more and better ways to accommodate the Youth worldwide.
I have personally been enquiring in this regard at our NOC. There is great enthusiasm for our sport, BUT the message is the same – we need to expand our footprint in the continent.
Asia is currently the world leader regarding the development of the sport at the U-23 level – we need to follow their example. We need to follow Ghana’s example and TAKE the sport to the Universities and Colleges….. The OPPORTUNITIES are there. First, we must get it in our different Zonal Games, then the Student Games.
Currently, there is the Commonwealth Student Games in Trinidad & Tobago – these are all OPPORTUNITIES. But we cannot get in there with only a handful of countries with U-23 and Schools participating.
So, to summarise – TWIF has created an international platform for Universities and Schools to compete, they have also budgeted for the means to create a Continental platform for U/23s (for now) – I’m sure this will be expanded to include schools. The rest is up to us to grasp these opportunities and “fill the slots”, so to speak.
This is great feedback President Botha. There also the ongoing university games in China. Surely universities and secondary school are the way to go to grow the sport. The African Championship should be rotated amongst the existing Tug of War Countries to increase awareness.
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