You go on strike over salaries but insult footballers for taking a winning bonus – Asamoah Gyan speaks out
Former Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan has called the decision by workers to go on strike over unpaid salaries and conditions of service hypocritical while criticizing footballers for demanding what is due them when they represent the country in tournaments.
Gyan’s initial response to whether people should be careful how they speak to or deal with footballers or celebrities because they may not know what the public figures are going through was “sometimes, I feel it’s jealousy.”
According to him, every worker is entitled to a living wage, so he is perplexed as to why there is a commotion whenever footballers called up to the national team to discuss winning bonuses.
“The national team is being paid bonuses. One journalist comes up with a story and people jump on it,” Gyan said in an interview with Dentaa. “This is our career, I’m a footballer, I need to be paid. Why do doctors go on strike? You only attack footballers because they’re taking bonuses but when you’re not being paid, you go on strike.”
Gyan, who recently sparked a national debate with his readiness for the 2022 World Cup, stated that there have been times when people would secretly support them but openly criticize them for it.
“…behind the scene, those same people will tell you ‘you have a case. But when they go on social media, they demonstrate hypocrisy,” the footballer remarked while adding that the attitude has been normalized.
During the 2014 World Cup, the government sent a plane carrying $3 million in cash to Brazil to appease players who were upset about unpaid appearance fees. “They wouldn’t take anything but physical cash,” said Ghana’s Deputy Sports Minister at the time, Joseph Yammin.
Following this incident, some soccer fans focused on the amount given to Black Stars players as an appearance fee and winning bonus. Most of the time, some people argued that the amount involved was excessively high because they used quotations from other countries in their comparative analysis.
Others have suggested that appearance fees and winning bonuses be eliminated. When President Akufo-Addo announced in 2021 that the government, in collaboration with Cooperate Ghana, would raise $25 million for the Black Stars’ participation in AFCON and the 2022 Qatar World Cup, the announcement divided opinion.
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