Cosua - President at Museum

[COSUA]

Sarfo Abebrese was speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the Bensusan
Museum Football Photography Exhibition organized at the African Museum
as part of the celebration of the hosting of the 2010 World Cup in
Africa for the first time in history.

The COSUA President, who was the guest speaker at the function traced
the history of football from ancient days when the ball was probably a
human skull to the present-day super technology of the "Jabulani", and
shocked his audience with the revelation that the first ball used in
the first-ever World Cup in 1930 was actually a monkey skull wrapped
with layers of paper and leather.

He also traced Africa's football history from 1889 when a Ghanaian by
name Arthur Wharton became the first black man to play professional
football anywhere in the World when he signed for Rotherham United as
their goalkeeper, to 1934 when Egypt became the first African country
to play in the World Cup.

Advocate Abebrese stated that African players had developed their
talents from the barest of facilities to become the leading
footballers in the world, citing the achievements of the likes of
George Weah of Liberia who became the first African to win the World's
best footballer award, stressing that right now, it is the African
superstars that make the best football leagues in Europe tick.

He concluded by emphasizing that Africa came of age in the World Cup
as far back as 1990 when Cameroon came within minutes of making it to
the semi-final, a feat that was repeated by Senegal in the 2002
edition, and stressed that if Africa could reach the quarter-finals
twice on foreign soil, there was no reason why an African team cannot
win the 2010 World Cup on home soil.

He explained COSUA's mission as an effort towards the realization of
this dream, while using football to unify the people of Africa.

The President was accompanied to the function by his Personal
Assistant, Mr. Samuel Baah.