Western Region has produced some of Ghana’s finest goalkeepers – Abukari Damba

• Damba has paid tribute to some Ghanaian football legends from the Western Region

• He says the Western Region used to a hub for the development of goalkeepers

• He wants the country to make a conscious effort towards unearthing goalkeepers

Former Black Stars goalkeeper Abukari Damba has revealed that the Western Region was at some point the nation’s source of great goalkeepers and wingers.

In an interview on GhanaWeb’s Sports Check program, Damba revealed that some of the country’s best wingers and goalkeepers hailed from the region.

For goalkeeping, John Baker and Joe Carr were two of the greats he mentioned whiles picking out Kofi Abbrey and John Essien as players who were incredible crossers of the ball.

“How come we were able to produce the John Bakers and Joe Carrs. There were some years we produced some very good goalkeepers so Ghana can’t be left out in that equation of having top class goalkeepers of yester-year.

“It is unfortunate that we have not been able to maintain that level of goalkeeping simply because we did not add a lot value or pay attention. In the past most of our top goalkeepers came from the Western Region.”

There have been suggestions that the Ghana Football Association undertake some research into why the Western Region produced so many good goalies and use that information to scout for talent in the region.

Damba ‘partially agrees’ with that school of thought but adds that while it will be a good move for that to happen, he is of the view that the country must make a conscious effort at unearthing talents from across the various regions.

He noted that football has become scientific and talents are now scattered everywhere so it will not be a prudent decision for the FA to focus on only one region.

“That could be the case but we need to understand that football has become very scientific. Why is it that in years past we had the best wingers coming from the Western Region. When you talk of wing play, the Kofi Abbreys, the Essiens.”