Bernard Morrison: The misunderstood genius?

Bernard Morrison: A misunderstood genius?

August 13, 2022; it’s Community Shield day in Tanzania, the game that precedes the opening day of the league season. Two teams in action; Young African Sports Club (Yanga) and Simba Sports Club (the two biggest teams in the country). The game that divided Dar es Salaam.

On a day like this, the city is separated by battle lines, lines of longitude and latitude unseen by fans of both clubs. The game is commonly known as Kariakoo Derby. The Benjamin Mkapa Stadium was filled to the rafters. A large number of Yanga fans lined the east wing of the stadium while Simba fans dressed in red and dressed in their best colors filled the west wing with a large number entering the center where the center circle could be seen.

The buzzing atmosphere makes for a great match day experience and the chants from the stadium can be heard from miles away. The game ebbed and flowed for a quarter of an hour until Simba opened the scoring through Pape Osman Sakho. As Sakho ran off in jubilation, Simba fans poured out of the stands – as much celebration as Boca fans did at La Bombonera in the heart of Buenos Aires. The noise was deafening. It was 1-0 to Simba and there was no way the Yanga fans were going through it.

Yanga’s coach, Nasreddine Nabi should do it quickly. He half-heartedly looked at his bench and signaled to start the warm-up session. Players get up and start jogging up and down the line. Soon, bottles, plastic cups flew from the stand. It rained heavily on the area reserved for the Yanga players to warm up. The Simba fans sitting in the area did not like one person. The man who served them two years before crossed the marked town line into enemy territory; his name, Bernard Morrison. By crossing the divide, Morrison was considered a traitor by Simba fans.

“I remember I was on the bench so I had to go and warm up and we were sitting in front of the Simba fans so I had to practice there. The game had to stop because they didn’t want to see me there. They started throwing bottles at me and wanted me to leave the place until the president of the club spoke to him. he said.

As the assistant referee’s substitution board came up and his number went up in the air, a roar echoed through the stadium. Confused voices overcame the noise in many African homes when the continent won the bid to host the World Cup in 2010. Morrison walked onto the pitch boasting players who knew their stuff.

“… Guess what, we were down by a goal, so when I came in, we had to change and beat them 2-1 to win the community shield. It was really interesting because I changed the game for YANGA and it was difficult for the Simba fans because they considered me their own Morrison said with an unrepentant smirk on his face.

In Dar Es Salaam, Morrison largely divided the city. He divided the public opinion of himself everywhere in the suburbs and in many ways became a part of his life.

He has a larger than life personality. Not a week seems to go by that he doesn’t do anything that could be news or content. Tanzanians have warmed to him…. from a pure entertainment perspective, they have been a hit. Sports journalist, Salim Said Salim who covers the Tanzanian league every week told me in one of his incredibly random conversations.

He also knows the competition very well. “Even if God comes down to play for Yanga, Simba’s fans will hate Him and vice versa”. He said. “….This is my life. This is all I do, so if people think it’s not safe or right to go from this club to a rival, for me, I don’t think about it. I just do what I think is right”

When you think of crazy transfers in world football, chances are you’ll think of Mo Johnston – the Catholic and ex-Celtic who couldn’t cross Glasgow’s sectarian divide to join Rangers in 1989, Sol Campbell who left Spurs to play. old enemies up the road, Arsenal and Luis Figo – the man whose famous transfer from Barcelona to Real Madrid has been crammed together into a 104-minute Netflix documentary so that no one will forget. All this creates great controversy in the world of football, a higher level of excitement in the game, providing journalists with endless news bulletins / analysis and the eyebrows of many fans who do not win in the transfer market.

Morrison has never been there. He became a Yanga player in 2020, then joined Simba in August of that year, played for two years and is now back playing for Yanga. “It’s business..” he said. You have to agree with people. Players can be offloaded after repeated injuries or their form plummets but can’t move to another club when they are hot and other clubs are offering more money for their talent? Today, loyalty cuts both ways and it is the prerogative of the modern player to change his mind.

The transfer from Yanga to Simba in 2020 is complicated. It started as a rumour. One that is brewed for the day. He believes that his love for Yanga will keep him in the club, but business is easier when love is broken. The morning when the mohawked Ghanaian was depicted in Simba’s social media feed putting pen to paper, Yanga has issued a statement to confirm that he is still a player. This is a transfer that goes beyond the easy boundaries of East African football.

The transfer squabble led both teams to the Court of Arbitration for Sport where Yanga lost. The young African sought court intervention after the Tanzania Football Federation’s Legal, Ethics and Players status committee ruled that Morrison was Boseman’s freebie who was legally free to sign for anyone. When Simba finally got the man, razzmatazz entered the word-stock football. In that year, the red half of Dar was probably at the center of the East African Football universe.

There are slings and arrows, effigies and disgust of Yanga fans. “I was afraid for my life,” he admitted. “…. But I know it’s only on social media because threats and harsh words only happen there. People who threaten your life and do all this, as soon as they see you, take pictures with you, give you gifts and say kind words to you. I know it’s part of the game, so I do it in good faith. It’s a saga that’s handled really well though. According to Salim Said, he smoothly rebuilt the burnt bridge in large part by way of communication. He handled his exit from the two clubs very well – more professionally than he thought.

Morrison’s all-action style and brilliant brand of football appeal to Simba fans. He is very positive about the club. If he was big in the first few months in Tanzania in Yanga, Simba made him bigger. He was the talk of the league. The poster boy. A star player in his own right and a goldfish bowl dweller. Simba was the most efficient side with him. They won the cup and when he went on to score two goals against Sudanese side Al Hilal in the CAF Confederation Cup that season to win 4-1, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Bernard Morrison is not new to all this. In his early years, he was a star in his neighborhood. He is one of the few players many know will hit some great heights. Morrison grew up in Effiakuma, a suburb of Ghana’s twin cities, Sekondi-Takoradi. It is one of the most popular areas in the country; a name that rings loud and true in the ears of many who live in the Western region of Ghana.

Effiakuma is very important to everyone who grew up on the streets. However, there are similarities between Morrison and Soweto in South Africa or Kariobangi in Kenya. “Effiakuma means everything to me because this is where I grew up. For me, I’ve lived my whole life in Effiakuma and I’ve got people who love me out there so every time I go home, I just go and have fun with my family and friends that I left. Effiakuma is very good to me, so I will not leave him. He said when his eyes lit up behind the phone on the zoom phone we have been in almost 27 minutes.

As a child, he attended Takoradi Senior High School and unlike his peers who had to excel in the classroom as well as on the field to wear the school jersey, he did not. should be very worried about this. No one cares what he does in class as long as he hits the right notes on match days and he never disappoints. His coach must have liked him. His talent means he needs to be managed properly. With this, he always had some leeway – the leeway that the coach gave him to accommodate the excesses of players like him. He has been accused of cheating the coach to give preferential treatment in the camp but when you have a good player like Morrison who is healthy so easily from physical exertion and conditions, something has to give.

He started his professional football career with Heart of Lions Football Club in Kpando. Here, his career began under the tutelage of one of Ghana’s most respected coaches, Orlando Wellington. From Lions, he moved to Ashanti Gold where he won the Ghana league comfortably under Bashir Hayford. En route to the league title that year, he scored 9 times and was instrumental in bringing the trophy to the Obuasi club for the first time in 19 years.

That cup win led to a move to Congolese club AS Vita. He played there for a while before moving to Orlando Pirates in South Africa and returning to Congo with Daring Club Motema Pembe. He may have trekked the mineral rich, Central Africa through to the ritzy parts of South Africa but has found home in Tanzania.

“Since I left Ashanti Gold in 2015, I have played in South Africa, DRC, Qatar and Tanzania, but I think Tanzania has really done a lot for me – both in terms of finances and exposure. Tanzania has given the necessary attention so that footballers- you can move forward.” he said. So I asked him “Are you saying Tanzania saved your football career?” he replied, “to an extent, yes”.

BM3 or BM33 as it is on the back of Yanga’s shirt has become a brand. A brand that has held sway for years and one that will never go away.

“I used to love Asamoah Gyan. He is the reason why I wear number 3 and get BM3 as my identity. Having Africa’s top goalscorer at the World Cup as a role model explains a lot. Controversies about life off the pitch, the swagger he plays with and the spectacular goals he scores when he’s in the mood. Much of his life reflects his role model in many ways.

Besides all his continental experience in the game, Morrison has played for the Black Stars. He came close on several occasions only to be ignored later. “I’m a Ghanaian and I’m willing to fight and represent my country, so if you don’t have a chance, you can’t do anything. You just have to keep fighting. Now, I’m focused on my club. He said.

Ghana and Tanzania have a long-standing relationship dating back to the 1960s. The first presidents of the two countries Dr Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere were very good friends who shared the same political ideology. Nkrumah was perhaps the most popular Ghanaian in the east African nation.

Half a century later, it is fair to say that the baton has been handed to Bernard Morrison. One man in the middle of two Tanzanian clubs with so much history, you don’t see that often.

By Yaw Ofosu Larbi |3Sports |Ghana

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