Former Hearts of Oak player, Sadat Karim has bemoaned superstition as the bane to the success of Ghanaian players plying their trade in the local league.
According to the Sweden-based striker, fleeing superstition was key in his move away from the Ghana Premier League seven years ago.
“I think most of the clubs I played in, the superstitious acts were too much so I said it was too difficult to continue to stay in this.
“I remember one club, when we were travelling for a match, the Team Manager intentionally left the jersey of one key player behind so that the player couldn’t play. When the coach asked why they didn’t bring the jersey, they said they had forgotten.
“Meanwhile, the CEO had already come to tell us that the said player doesn’t have luck so they don’t want him to play,” Karim Sadat, who featured for RTU, Berekum Chelsea, AshantiGold, Hearts of Oak and Inter Allies before leaving Ghana in 2013, said in an Instagram Live Video Chat with YAC Media,
Sadat continued by delving into how his experience at RTU concerning superstition;
“They’ll make us bath this concoction and spiritual water before games. Most times I wanted to refuse but you will be accused of making them fail.
“In one such instance, after I bathed the spiritual water, I entered the shower and washed it off. We lost the game and they accused me of foiling the spirit because I had taken a shower. How can you say this?
“In a game against King Faisal, the team officials told us there are only three goals in the game. After the first half score was 1-1.
“During the second half, I think around the 60th minute we scored to lead 2-1. From there, the players became lax and complacent and in the end, we lost 4-2.
“I think the superstition enters the heads of some of the players too much.”
Karim Sadat now plays in Sweden for Halmstad BollKlub.
