Opoku Afriyie is no more. Born on the 2nd February, 1955; died on the 29th March, 2020. Footballer, striker, and two-time Ghana Premier League top-scorer.
He made his name with Kotoko but his short stint with Hearts of Oak in the mid-80s would never be forgotten, not just for what he accomplished on the field of play, but how he showed Hearts the “light” off the field.
“Businessman”, “Bayie”, “Ayen”, had been his monikers during his heydays with Kotoko but he’s christened “Nii Opoku” after he helped Hearts to her first league win in five years in 1984.
The former Kotoko captain had been a thorn-in-the-flesh of the Phobians. He scored in the 0-3 and 3-0 Kotoko victories over Hearts in 1980 and 1981 respectively, but his first goal against the Phobians came in May 1975 in a 2-0 home league win for the Porcupines.
Opoku Afriyie was deemed surplus to requirement at the end of the 1982 season by the management of Kotoko. But he was thrown a life-line by Hearts in 1984 by the Seth Abadji administration, having spent a whole year without playing football. And it would proved to be a chef d’œuvres come the end of the season.
“Nii Opoku” started his football by playing for Kumasi Hearts Babies Colts team, at the tender age of 10, and despite his relationship with Kotoko, for whom he won countless trophies, incidentally ended it by finishing his career with the Phobians.
A royal by birth, Opoku Afriyie hated anything that had to do with winning unfairly. A fair man, Afriyie dared the Hearts management to drop some key players (whose name I wouldn’t want to mention) ahead of a titanic league clash with Kotoko in Kumasi, on the pretext that they had been compromised.
Management listened. And Hearts won 0-1 courtesy of Joe Amoateng’s lone strike. But it’s not just the win that turned the tide for Hearts. It’s the eye opening revelation that made the Phobians sit up ahead of matches with Kotoko.
Prior to his coming, Hearts had lost five out of seven consecutive league meetings with Kotoko (0-3, 1-1, 0-1, 2-0, 3-0, 0-2, 3-4*) in the 80s.
But thanks to Bayie’s clairvoyance, Hearts stopped recording 3-0 and 0-3 margins of defeats against their arch-rivals in the league.
Opoku Afriyie changed the thinking of a whole club. He made his name with Kotoko but he made the biggest single influence on Hearts when it came to matches involving the two rivals. He sparked a mini revolution that lasts till this day.
This single selfless gesture I come to celebrate. And at the same time mourn the passing of one of Ghana football’s fine gentlemen.
Goal-scorer, top-scorer, revolutionary, Nii Opoku, sleep well, your highness.
[Opoku Afriyie, son of Nana Kofi Poku, Oyokohene of Kumasi, and Madam ABENA Mansah, Hearts of Oak is grateful].
They are back. After five seasons in the lower Divisions, Accra Great Olympics are back, and back to play against their fiercest rivals, Accra Hearts of Oak in the league.
The last time they met, in March, 2010, Samuel Afum
Samuel Afum is the last Hearts player to score against Accra Great Olympics in the 2009/10 season.
got the only game of the goal to cap a league double for Hearts in the 2009/10 season. Tuah Khemiz and Mahatma Otoo were also on the score-sheet in a 0-2 victory in the first encounter.
Olympics have been gone for so long, half a decade to be precise, and it is the longest interval of quiescence in the history of the derby. The Dade Boys have been relegated three times in the 21st century, having been founding fathers of the Ghana League in 1958.
But they are back, again, and they want to claim the city from Hearts.
The Olympics Formation
Accra Great Olympics was formed in 1954, after breaking away from Hearts of Oak’s pre-Independence rivals Accra Standfast.
Standfast were the bogey side of Accra Hearts of Oak pre-Independence, having challenged and threatened the dominance of the Phobians in the Guggisberg Shield for several years. And Olympics morphed into the role by being a thorn-in-the-flesh of the Phobians post Independence.
But Hearts had a serendipitous hand in the formation of Accra Great Olympics when they invited Standfast for a friendly match at the Owusu Memorial Park in the 1950s. Hearts had gone several games without victory over Standfast and had sought the help of a Bishop for ways to end their poor streak.
Indeed, the Bishop [Engloben] told them they could only beat Standfast if they could make the heavens open on any day they play their rivals. It was a very difficult solution, but soon Hearts found the answer.
So when the two squared at the Owusu Memorial Park, the Phobians ran riot, beating Standfast by 6-0! The shock of the defeat began the chain of conflicts which culminated in the disintegration of Standfast and the formation of Accra Great Olympics.
Standfast were paralyzed by the resignation of almost the entire players and executive who moved away to form the Great Olympics in 1954. [culled from: The Saga of Hearts pages 45,48]
The Memorable Games
*Speedy way to a speedy exit
In 1961, Hearts won her third league title (1956, 1958, 1961) with the help of star player and ex-Hasaacas captain Aggrey Fynn, but the season is most remembered for the 4-0 trouncing of Olympics in the FA Cup. A report from the Ghanaian Ties of August, 21, 1961 tells of all the drama which gave Hearts their 4-0 victory:
“One goal up in thirty-six seconds: A hat trick by Aggrey-Fynn in the final quarter-hour!
“That is the dramatic story of the dramatic victory of Accra Hearts of Oak over Great Olympics in their National Cup quarter-final replay at Accra Stadium yesterday.
“It was a match that will long live in the memories of the near-capacity crowd.
“Olympics as confident as a bantam cock, drove their van onto the playing field to an unprecedented burst of cheers. It was a speedy way to a speedy exit.
“Kobina Agyiri Fynn [not to be confused with Aggrey Fynn] kicking off for Hearts, passed a short one to inside left Aggrey Fynn. A square pass found right winger Osei Kofi racing close to the Olympics touchline. Wee! Osei chipped the ball back to [Amadu] Akuse who beat a defender and passed it on to Agyiri Fynn.
“The stocky centre forward let fly a thunderous shot but as goalkeeper Ollenu dived to meet it, right back Ago Laryea got his foot to it and deflected it into the net.
“Only 36 seconds gone. Not one Olympics player had touched it beside Laryea. And Hearts were one-goal up……
“And so to half time with Hearts clinging to their lone goal lead. There was no letting up in the second half.
“Olympics continued their constructive football but were subdued by a solid Hearts defence, ably backed by Addoquaye Laryea in goal.
“It lasted for half of the second half and then Hearts struck their pulverizing form. Four times centre forward Agyiri Fyn shot over the bar or just missed the upright.
“But the pressure was on and Hearts could not be denied. A low cross from left winger Akrong to Akuse was redirected to Aggrey Fynn who hit the corner of the net with a beautiful low drive.
“Seven minutes later, Hearts got a corner kick, Aggrey Fynn was on hand again to bang it home for the third goal.
“Three minutes to full time, Aggrey Fynn completed a personal hat-trick with Hearts’ fourth goal against a weary, dissipated but gallant Olympics.
“It was a conclusive defeat, but you can say this for Olympics. They played good football and kept their heads to the end”.
*Three goals in five minutes
On July 14, 1968, Hearts devastatingly surged from a 0-2 setback to a memorable 4-2 triumph over Great Olympics in a knockout match. In that match, Hearts created history by scoring three goals in five minutes (80th-85th minutes) after getting their first goal in the 49th minute; the rainbow-shirted boys then delighted the crowd with artistic slow-motion soccer.
Just like Olympics had entered the field with a new bus some years down the line, Hearts entered this game in a new set of jerseys donated by ex-Hearts player, and then Head of State, J.A Ankrah, but it was Olympics that started the game on the front foot.
The Dade boys took a commanding two-goal lead before the break. At halftime, captain Charles Addo Odamteng instructed the players not to leave the pitch for the changing room. They stayed on the field [Black Stars end of the stadium goalpost – now score-board end of the stadium] whilst he asked why they wanted to disgrace J.A Ankrah because he knew the man was watching the game on TV. He charged the players and told them, they would rather die than leave the pitch with a defeat.
Then ominously, the heavens opened up before the start of the second half. Rainbow appeared on the coast line, and Hearts got into their elements.
Abeka Ankrah followed up with a firm header beyond goalkeeper Naa Awu, who had fisted the ball back into play, for Hearts’ first goal of the game.
George “Ga Mantse” Alhassan restored parity in the 80th minute. Then it happened again. Abeka Ankrah – alias why worry – found Robert Foley deep in the Hearts half after intercepting a pass. Ankrah raced into the half of Olympics on a counter to receive a return pass from Foley, but ball deflected off an Olympics defender before falling kindly towards the Hearts man. He controlled beautifully with his chest to go past Naa Awu, before walking the ball into the net where he blasted into the roof and got tangled in the net. The fans rushed to field. They all fell on the striker. He could not breathe. Slowly, they lifted him out, and in the picture below, he is being asked by Joe Ghartey and Robert Foley whether he could continue
Ghartey and Foley quiz Ankrah if he could continue after fans mobbed him in celebration.
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Stop playing after that comeback? Hell no. Ankrah continued but Amusa Gbadamoshie got the last laugh, scoring a fine goal with the angle against him, to complete a memorable comeback for Hearts. 2-0 down at halftime; 4-2 winners at full-time.
HEROES and VILLAINS
The rivalry has seen its fair share of pitch-side duels, with goalkeepers and strikers slanging it out for the heroic crown or clown on the day.
Once-upon-a-time, Thomas Otenkorang, facing the great goalkeeper Lantey Duru, scored straight from a corner kick to hand Hearts a 1-0 win over Olympics.
Richard Kingson, who has returned to the club, never had fun playing against the late Shamo Quaye. The Shamo ‘leather’ has some of his best goals coming against Olympics, and Kingston had been on the end of many.
Sammy Adjei
Sammy Adjei was ripped apart by Kwame Ali in his first Olympics-Hearts game.
, on his local debut, picked up two goals in the opening 45 minutes against Accra Great Olympics, but his blushes were saved by Dan Quaye and Osmanu Amadu, who leveled the scores in the second half, in a thrilling 2-2 draw.
But the keepers were not always the villains; the strikers were not spared in those days. Peter Lamptey was sacked, by the fans, from Olympics after missing a golden opportunity against Hearts. The ‘goal thief’ was accused of playing it soft against his prophesied beloved club though he had on many occasions been the thorn-in-the-flesh of the Hearts defense.
Chased home and humiliated the following day at training, Peter Lamptey switched camp and joined Hearts in 1972/73. The rest became history.
However, the greatest individual to come out of the two clubs, is without a shadow of doubt, Cecil Jones Attuquayefio. The only ‘sir’ in Ghana football made his name playing for Accra Great Olympics, but he entered coaching folklore with his achievements with Accra Hearts of Oak: five league titles, three continental trophies, and many more.
The GOLDEN ERA
There is a long history of players switching camps from Hearts to Olympics and vice-versa. The acquisition of Peter Lamptey could be the finest move by Hearts for an Olympics player. Lamptey went on to help Hearts win its first ever double in Ghana football in 1973. In fact, the Phobians were masters of all they surveyed, winning all the trophies on display in 1973 – only failing to make a mark on the continent.
In recent times, Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor joins Osei Kuffor, Ishmael Addo and Edmund Copson in celebration. Taylor left Olympics for Hearts.
has had a similar effect, joining from Olympics to help Hearts to an unprecedented treble in Ghana football in the year 2000.
Great Olympics have also benefited from snatching players from Hearts into the camp, but the duo of Christian Madus and Abeka Ankrah, have had a more telling effect for Olympics.
The duo helped Olympics to win their last league title in 1974, after they were declared surplus to requirements at Hearts.
The 1970s was a golden era for the two Accra Clubs. Olympics won 2 league titles (1970 and 1974), whilst Hearts won the league five times (1971, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979) in that period.
The New REALITY
Great Olympics have not been able to recapture the golden decades of the 1970s, but they were the first of the two clubs to play a continental competition, reaching the semi-finals in 1971, before Hearts ventured into Africa the following year.
The Dade Boys have been relegated three times in the last 15 years, and that has gone a long way in diluting the rivalry
Laryea Kingston, switched from Olympics, to Hearts in 2002.
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Hearts have excelled, and many times at the expense of Olympics, snatching their best talents and making them champions. The Phobians have won 14 league titles since Olympics’ last triumph on the domestic stage; won three continental trophies within the period.
And this has made the derby, no longer a fight for supremacy, but a fight for only three points and bragging rights for the city.
Olympics are back this time around; back to make the loudest noise in the capital. Yet, Hearts will say to them, “Be Quiet and don’t be Silly.”
Hearts beat Kotoko 3-1 to complete a league double over the Kumasi side at the Robert Mensah Stadium in Cape Coast.
Record-signing Eric Gawu shot the Phobians into a deserved lead after a 15-minutes hiatus following Ahmed Toure’s dismissal on the half-hour mark.
Super man Bernard Dong Bortey doubled the tally to set the “adapted” home side on course for a routine win, but the Porcupines pulled a goal back.
However, the euphoniously named Alfred Nii Larbie restored the two-goal cushion to make the scoreline a handsome 3-1 to Hearts.
Hearts had already beaten Kotoko 0-1 at the same venue courtesy a lone strike from Stanley Afedzie in the first round (23rd Dec., 2006), and the latest victory ensured Hearts leapfrogged Kotoko on the league log from the
16th matchday to the end of the season/
The Phobians went on to win the league in the 2006/7 season by five points over second-placed Kotoko, but the season is mostly remembered for the fortnight double victory over Kotoko.
[Pix: League winning technical team celebrate the second triumph over Kotoko L-R: Eben Dida, K, K Dobrev, Sabahn Quaye, and Eddie Ansah]
Are you not proud to be a PHOBIAN?
HEARTS 3 – 1 KOTOKO (7th January,2007):
Cape Coast played host to the two giants of Ghana football, and for the first time in a neutral league ground, although on paper it was Hearts’ home match, the Phobians had pipped the Porcupines at the same venue in the first round of the league through Stanley Afede’s solo strike. And in this return league, after gifting Phobia fans all over the world the perfect Christmas gift, Hearts were at it again. Eric Gawu and Dong Bortey sent Hearts into a two nil lead, and Alfred Nii Larbi made the score emphatic after the visitors reduced the deficit after the break.
Accra Hearts of Oak’s greatest coach of all-time and Ghana football’s most successful Club manager, Sir Cecil Jones Attuquayefio (born 18th October, 1944 ) opened up his doors for an in-depth interview on his 69th birthday (last year); and since, Cecil Jones Attuquayefio and David Duncan (born 25th October, 1963.) were born in the same month (a week separates their birthdays), HEARTSELEVEN.wordpress.com will like to bring you excerpts of an interview we did with Sir Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, which was published in Hearts News last year 18th October, 2013.
The legendary coach, Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, won 10 major trophies with Accra Hearts of Oak in 5 years and in two spells. In his first spell, Cecil Jones Attuquayefio won four consecutive league titles, two FA Cups, one African Champions League, and the Super Cup in a space of four years. He returned to his darling Club in 2004 to win the maiden CAF Confederation Cup beating bitterest rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko, and he wrestled back Hearts of Oak’s league crown from the same opponents who hitherto had ended the Phobians’ six-year stranglehold on the Ghana Premier League title.
Cecil Jones Attuquayefio is convalescing after undergoing treatment for throat cancer. The affable, eloquent, charismatic, sociable, and gregarious veteran spoke on his improving conditions, on the team’s course for success, on David Duncan and the need for him to be supported. He also congratulated the Black Stars on their historic win over Egypt.
Even before we could kick-start the interview, Sir Cecil Jones Attuquayefio magnanimously left his seat and went inside his bedroom. He came back with a vintage shirt and a trademark cap for David Duncan. Read the excerpts below.
HeartsEleven.wordpress.com: Good afternoon, sir.
Cecil Jones Attuquayefio: Good afternoon, gentlemen. Welcome to my home.
This is one of the luckiest and the last of the luckiest uniforms for Accra Hearts of Oak bench and it is for the coach. I am presenting this to him, as a sign of good omen, and the sign to help him. When he wears it, he will have the feelings and the spirit of the PHOBIA that will help him to go through thick and thin of every situation. So this is from the bottom of my heart to Duncan.
Heartseleven.wordpress.com: We wish you a happy 69th birthday on behalf of every Hearts of Oak fan in the world. How are you feeling, Sir?
CJA: Thank you. Well I think I feel stronger and stronger every day. But there is a side effect; and of course I have not stopped visiting the hospital so I always visit the hospital for check-ups and observation. But I can see that I have got much strength; my strength is coming back. Hopefully, I will probably have a change of voice. And I think that I believe that will give me the opportunity to mix up with people.
Heartseleven.wordpress.com: We are very honoured to be part of your 69th birthday. We pray that God grants you long life, good health. How does it feel to reach another milestone, Sir?
CJA: I am glad that I am able to reach the 69th birthday. I am very happy and I will give thanks to the Almighty for keeping me all this while. And I hope that, the Lord God will guide me and protect me and give me some more life.
Heartseleven.wordpress.com: How do you see the work of David Duncan in the new season and do you believe he can lead Hearts of Oak to the ultimate this season? [Duncan was still in charge of Hearts when we conducted the interview]
CJA: I think I know David Duncan very well, and I have followed his exploits. Duncan is capable of achieving honours for Hearts of Oak. He has shown it last year, and this year, I think he has started again. I know he can do it. All that we need is to offer him the support, from the rank and file of Accra Hearts of Oak. I wish everybody will offer him the support. There are bound to be rough times but I believe that he can sail through. All that he needs is our prayers and support and I am sure Hearts of Oak will get back to its glorious days.
Heartseleven.wordpress.com: What are Hearts’ chances of winning the 2013/14 Premier League?
CJA: So far the only match they have lost is the one against Asante Kotoko; and they are leading, Hearts of Oak is close behind them. What we are saying is that, “this is a marathon, not a race” and we still have the room to achieve our objectives so having lost in the early stages of the competition makes no difference. We are to move forward. Forward ever and we don’t look back. Give him [Duncan] the support and I believe he will achieve all he wants to achieve.
Heartseleven.wordpress.com: What do you think the players need to do if Hearts is to return to its glorious past?
CJA: I heard one of the players say how much they respect and trust Duncan. What the players need to do is that all of them should realize that they should give respect to their coach and the support. Well, there are times where there will be differences, but it behooves on every player to know that this is a coach who wants honours for the player, for himself, and for the club. And therefore, sometimes he needs to drive them on. It is their responsibility to accept and absorb the drive. All the players need is the support and respect for their coach.
Heartseleven.wordpress.com: What role can the fans play in helping the Club to reach its objective for the season?
CJA: I remember my early days in Hearts of Oak. The first match I lost was against Accra Great Olympics, the club that I played for. Before going to Hearts, people did not think I was going to enjoy any support because of my relationship with Olympics. But when I lost the match, I enjoyed sympathy from the rank and file of Hearts of Oak when I thought people were going to capitalize on that to say all sort of things against me. But they rather came and sympathized with me. They encouraged me to achieve more honours. So I am saying that if this thing can be done to Duncan, I am sure the sky will be the limit. In view of this, I always remember how much I respect the supporters of Hearts of Oak. How much I know they can achieve for the Club. Their support alone has helped us to win all the honours that we achieved in Hearts of Oak. I wish they will continue to give that same support to Duncan and the management so that victory will crown our efforts.
Heartseleven.wordpress.com: What have you missed most from the fans of Accra Hearts of Oak and one of your fondest memories of your relationship with the supporters?
CJA: Whilst I was in Hearts of Oak, I remember my belief in some of the uniforms which had so much luck and that in every match that we played, I had to wear them. And I think the supporters saw me always in that “top colour”. I had two trousers, blue and white, and I used them throughout my time in Hearts of Oak on a weekly basis. But the Hearts of Oak supporters wanted to know if they were the only things I had in the world (laughs and smiles with the flashback). So they asked in Ga, “meni, Jones, Atarley e oonye ocha kay?” Which literally meant: “So Jones, you cannot change attire or what?”
This is what I remember and I still laugh everyday it comes to mind. I think that I enjoyed my stay with Accra Hearts of Oak. I want the same to be done with Duncan. He is getting a similar treatment and so he should know that this is what brings the excitement and honours for Hearts of Oak so he should carry on.”
Heartseleven.wordpress.com: What do you make of the Black Stars showing against Egypt? [Local Coach Kwesi Appiah’s side had just pummeled Egypt in the first league of the play-off for the 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP; and Cecil Jones asked to get his view included as part of the interview in recognition and respect for Kwesi Appiah’s salient achievement]
CJA: Well, the recent achievement [of the Black Stars] I will like to say, and people are saying it is an unprecedented achievement. But I will like to add that it is historic! I wish to tell Kwesi Appiah that this is an issue [local coaches qualifying Ghana for the World Cup] none of us had been able to do. We have not been able to achieve that and he is in the process of achieving history and I believe that he can do it. He has been able to lead the team to this extent so far and we hope that the sky will be the limit for him. He has our backing, he has our support, and he has blessing, and I hope that God will help him to achieve his aim. I wish him the best of luck.
Heartseleven.wordpress.com: We wish you a happy 69th birthday. We hope to see you back on the field very soon.
Cecil Jones Attuquayefio: Thank you very much. I hope I will be back on the field before I will finally go to my ancestors.
[David Duncan was sacked on the 8th November, 2013, just 22 days after the interview with Sir Cecil Jones Attuquayefio. We wish new Olympics coach, David Duncan, a happy 51st birthday. You can forward David Duncan birthday his messages via @Ddun1025 (twitter)]
*David Duncan has gone back to Accra Great Olympics, but do you foresee him ever coming back to Accra Hearts of Oak as coach to complete his mission?
Tells us more @HeartsEleven ; facebook page coming soon. [Picture: Top-Right – Duncan ponded by his players on his birthday, last year at the ATTC Park]
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