Business Booms In National Colours

Sale of sports paraphernalia designed with the national
colours shot up in the Accra metropolis yesterday inanticipation of the Black Stars opening match at the ongoing FIFA Germany 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Before the opening of the World Cup on June 9, 2006, sports paraphernalia such as the national flags, Black Star jerseys, hats, bangles and handkerchiefs were not being patronized by football fans.

However, when the Times visited some sales points at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle yesterday morning, many soccer fans and Ghanaians in general had thronged the various points of sales to get paraphernalia ahead of the Black Stars encounter with the Italians in their group E opening match, later in the evening.

Many hawkers were seen on some of the busy roads with some of the paraphernalia perhaps to reach drivers and passengers who could not get time to make a stop at sales points.

A large national flag sold between ¢350,000 and ¢400,000 while a medium one sold between ¢200,000 and 180,000.

A small flag was pegged at ¢80,000 with a handkerchief size sold at ¢25,000.

A Black Stars jersey which has the names of the players at the back is being sold between ў100,000 and ¢90,000 while a hat decorated with the national colours is pegged at ¢25, 000, bangle and handkerchief ¢10,000 each.

Patrick Adu Mensah, one of the sellers at the Awudome Traffic Light, said that he was impressed about the way the public was patronizing the paraphernalia saying that “that signifies how much Ghanaians are supporting the Black Stars”.

He said sales started rising last Monday and expressed the hope that the trend continues till the end of the world cup tournament.

Kofi Appau also a seller, told the Times that so far, the jerseys and the flags are what many people prefer, looking at the rate at which they are being bought. He said some people have been complaining about the prices being too expensive.

“The way people are buying the paraphernalia in support of the Black Stars shows the level of patriotism of Ghanaians,” said Augustine Mensah who spoke to the Times after buying his jersey.

Meanwhile, both commercial and private drivers in the metropolis yesterday morning decorated their vehicles with the Ghana’s national flag and were either in a Black Stars jersey or a fancy hat.

By: Stephen Kwabena Effah
Tuesday,June 13,2006(Front Page)