Football medicine deserves special attention - GFA Boss

The President of the Ghana Football Association, (GFA) Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi has underscored the need for most Football Associations to give special attention to football medicine to meet the current trends of the development of the game. He said football medicine plays a vital role in the modern game to take care of players, which must therefore be given the necessary support in the quest to develop the sport. Mr Nyantakyi said this on Tuesday at the opening of the 2nd CAF Medical Conference on Football Medicine in Accra. The President of the GFA advised most National Associations to include football medicine in their programmes and resource the Medical Committees of their national teams for them to carry out their duties successfully. "We will need to intensify conferences such as this to highlight the issues of sports medicine for the benefit of players and the sport." Mr Nyantakyi lauded the timing of the Conference, which is expected to address issues such as contemporary research in football, nutrition in football, medical profile of the African footballer, injuries in football and infectious diseases in football among others, with barely three months to the commencement of the 26th edition of the continent's biggest football event to be hosted by Ghana. He announced that the GFA has made elaborate room for Sports Medicine in its four-year Development Plan and advised participants to put to bear the knowledge they will gain in the discharge of their duties. Dr Martin Engmann, Chairman of the Medical Committee of the GFA also called for research into sports medicine to improve the quality of the game. "As a first step, GFA introduced immediate doping checks in all local competitions to commence from next season." Dr Engmann who is also the medical officer of the Black Stars yearned for the incorporation of Sports Medicine at the Post Graduate Level. Mr Adoum Djibrine, Chairman of CAF Medical Committee said the conference would provide an avenue for medical officers to exchange and share information on sports medicine related issues. The four-day event, which ends on Friday, October 19, is being attended by medical officers from more than fifty countries including the 16 finalists of the Ghana 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. The first edition came off in Egypt in 2005.