On this day 28 December 2002(Exactly 16 years ago)
Hepthathlete Margaret Simpson broke the male dominance of the SWAG topmost prize when she was named the country’s top sports personality for 2002.
Simpson, Ghana’s sole medallist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, won the Sportswoman of the Year award.
Then 20-year-old Mauritius-based heptathlete became the first woman to win the top prize in the 27-year history of the Sportswriters Association of Ghana (SWAG) Awards.
Simpson, whose year was highlighted by the heptathlon bronze medal she won in Manchester, and later gold in the African championship in Tunisia, was also named Athlete of the Year.
Accra Hearts of Oak’s brilliant striker Charles Taylor was named male Footballer of the Year while Florence Okoe of La Ladies and the Black Queens won the female Footballer of the Year award.
Taylor and his Hearts team-mate Bernard Dong-Bortey, both of whom tied with 18 goals in the premier league, were named joint Goal-King.
Premier league champions, Accra Hearts of Oak won the Top Scoring Club award for the sixth successive year, scoring 72 goals.
The national female football team, Black Queens, were named Team of the Year for qualifying for the 2003 FIFA women’s World Cup in China and also winning silver at the African Women’s Nations Cup in Nigeria.
James ‘Hot Ice’ Toney, then national and ABU middleweight champion, won the Professional Boxer of the Year award.
On this day 28 December 2017(Exactly a year ago)
Former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah was confirmed elected president of Liberia, winning in a runoff with 61.5 percent of the vote.
The result was confirmed by the country’s election commission chair, Jerome Korkoyah, on Thursday, December 28, 2017.
The ex-African Footballer of the Year, who enjoyed a glittering career with the likes of Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, won 12 of the 15 counties in the West African country.
On this day 28 December 1965 (Exactly 53 years ago)
Benfica striker Eusébio wins the Ballon d’Or award for best European football player; first Portuguese national to win, and still only Benfica player.
On this day 28 December 1971 (Exactly 47years ago)
Former Ajax forward Johan Cruyff won the Ballon d’Or award for best European football player ahead of Inter forward Sandro Mazzola and Manchester United winger George Best; first Dutch national and Ajax player to win award.
On this day 28 December 1982(Exactly 36 years ago )
Juventus striker Paolo Rossi was named as winner of the Ballon d’Or for best European football player; beats Bordeaux midfielder Alain Giresse and Juventus’ Polish midfielder Zbigniew Boniek. Rossi was the third Italian national to win the award after Omar Sívori in 1961 and Gianni Rivera in 1969.
On this day 28 December 1993 (Exactly 25 years ago)
Juventus’ Italian striker Roberto Baggio was named the Ballon d’Or winner for Europe’s best football player ahead of Inter forward Dennis Bergkamp and Manchester United striker Eric Cantona.
On this day 28 December 2008 (Exactly 10 years ago)
Detroit Lions crash to a 31-21 loss to Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field; first team in NFL history to go winless in a 16-game season.
By: George “Alan Green ” Mahamah
