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In 2012, at the most feverish heights of the Real Madrid-Barcelona feud in the 21st Century, Spanish football writer Sid Lowe published Fear and Loathing in La Liga, described as “the definitive history of the greatest rivalry in world sport.”
The long-standing rivalry between Ghanaian giants Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak may not yet be the subject of such acclaimed literary work, but it is legendary in its own right and doubtlessly worth chronicling, too. Over the years, chapters — exhilarating, intense, chaotic, even bloody — have been written, with each new episode taking on meaning of its own.
But while the margins separating Ghana’s two most successful clubs remain close — Kotoko more dominant domestically and Hearts retaining a slight superiority on the continental front — the depths are shallower these days. One ‘friendly’ match too many contested in recent memory has thawed the ice somewhat, while Hearts haven’t been much of a force without major silverware in years.
Still, Kotoko haven’t ruled unchallenged. Other clubs have stood up to the Porcupine Warriors’ might, and none more boldly than Dormaa-based Aduana Stars. The roots of Kotoko’s relatively fresh match-up with Aduana stretch far beyond the present, though — and far beyond the pitch, too.
It goes way back, touching nerves that remain raw from days of yore when the traditional states from which Kotoko and Aduana derive royal patronage — Ashanti and Dormaa, respectively — were embroiled in conflict. The Dormaa were a migrant people, splitting from the Akwamu stock in what is now Ghana’s Eastern Region to avert the threat of civil war over a succession dispute. Eventually, they reached the territory of the Ashanti, then not the united kingdom they later became.
There, Dormaa thrived to the annoyance and envy of their hosts; war ensued, with the former defeated and forced to vacate their Asantemanso settlement. Undeterred, Dormaa forged ahead, founding Suntreso — now a suburb of Kumasi, the Ashanti capital — but the Ashanti were soon back to destabilize them again. Led by Nana Obiri Yeboa, the eminent chief of Kwaaman, the natives struck but were met by a stronger Dormaa resistance this time. The Ashanti were badly defeated, with victorious Dormaa — as the legend goes — claiming Obiri Yeboa’s severed head as a souvenir passed down generations till the present.
Osei Tutu I — nephew and successor of Obiri Yeboa, and the first Asantehene — exacted revenge on Dormaa as one of the first tasks struck off his to-do list, before going on to spark Ashanti’s rise as the land’s pre-colonial dominant power. Dormaa would finally pack out of their adopted home, subsequently moving to their present-day distant location, but a flame of hostility had been lit that would merely be reduced to embers which remain fiery some three centuries later.
Today, there exists an uneasy calm, age-old tensions simmering beneath the surface, which has lent an extra edge to clashes between the two sides since hitherto unglamorous Aduana joined Ghanaian club football’s elite ranks in 2009 and made a loud statement from the off.
In that period, only Kotoko have won more Ghana Premier League titles than Aduana, but the intensity has been most evident in their meetings. Until last year’s westward trip in the Special Competition, to illustrate, Kotoko had scored as many goals in Dormaa as Aduana have won games in Kumasi: zero. And that was only one of three occasions when Kotoko departed with a point; coupled with Aduana’s own misery as Kotoko’s guests, this fixture arguably qualifies as the league’s bitterest grudge match.
True, Hearts remain Kotoko’s archrivals — that much has been firmly established, as pointed out at the outset — and the sheer numbers and excitement that marked their most recent meeting in Accra may have stirred up the waters even more, but the Phobians — not holding up too well against Kotoko of late — are no longer the ultimate challenge. When defending league champions Aduana host record winners Kotoko on Wednesday, Hearts might be left feeling that, when Aduana wrestled top-flight glory from them in 2010, perhaps they also snatched something else — something more prized. In truth, though, it was probably never theirs to begin with.
NY Frimpong — Daily Mail GH
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