Road to Birmingham 2022: Will Government support the EAG?

The Esports Association, Ghana (EAG) have highlighted the nonexistent governmental support as they look to represent at the inaugural Commonwealth Esports Championships (CEC) set to take place independently of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

The Ghana Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) and the Ghana National Sports Authority (NSA) are yet to officially recognise esports as a part of the sports fraternity in the country and as such; the EAG has been working over the years, without any government support and mainly relying on corporate Ghana and internally generated funds.

Speaking exclusively to EAN, President of the Esports Association, Ghana, Kwesi Hayford, revealed that the nation will be represented at the esports championships as they are members of the Global Esports Federation (GEF). Ghana has also been a part of the Commonwealth Games over the years and as such the association will not need to hear from the government before participating.

“We know we will be there, the reason being that it is being managed by Global Esports Federation for which we are a member so automatically Ghana is in there,” Hayford said

“That’s great news for us, for Ghana we are always prepared to enter into any game even if we don’t have a first-team the first thing we do is to build communities around the game and try to find people to go because as much as it is about winning tournaments, it is also about exposure because we need to expose the space to the young ones so that they can go.” the EAG President further stated

The EAG has been fighting to gain recognition at the ministry and the sports authority for many years but has so far failed to convince them that esports is a sport worth their time. There is however good news coming from the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) as the EAG has had several positive meetings with the President of the GOC, Ben Nunoo Mensah, who seems interested in putting the sport on their agenda.