THE DAY LIFE STOOD STILL AT TAMALE (PAGE 29)

LIFE stood still in Tamale last Sunday. Known for their passionate love for football and their darling club, supporters of the pride of the north, Real Tamale United (RTU), had their hearts in their mouths for the entire period that Zaytuna United led with their thin goal in the decisive One- touch Premier League match between the Tamale lads and the Greater Accra based club at the Sunyani Coronation park.
The anxious supporters were indeed faced with the scare of being relegated from the elite league for the first time in their 30 years of chequered history in the league.
They clung to their radio sets and prayed fervently. Those who could not contain the tension put off their sets but with their ears to the ground.
The shouts and celebrations as expected that greeted the late equaliser in the 92 minute injury time was therefore loud and clear; the Tamale-based team was staying in the elite division.
And when in the nick of time Kabiru put the icing on the cake, the people roared. It was a moment the teeming sympathisers would not forget as some shed tears of joy.
‘‘I have always believed that RTU would produce a miracle to survive this scare; and I have been vindicated,’’ an excited supporter, Ibrahim Sule, intimated.
‘‘Credit must go to both the players and the technical bench for reviving our dead spirits when we were down because I really lost hope of our survival until they performed the wonders,’’ Mohammed Baba said.
An elated female supporter of the club, Hajia Maria Iddi, was of the opinion that, ‘‘we have come a very long way and therefore cannot go on relegation that easily for who to use this plush stadium.’’
Another ardent supporter who travelled with the team to Sunyani, Abdulai Mohammed Ajingo, described the atmosphere at the stadium after the equaliser as very electrifying.
He commended fans from Kumasi, Techiman, Tamale and elsewhere who trooped to the stadium in their numbers to cheer their darling club to victory.
And immediately after the whistle had gone for the close of proceedings at Sunyani, some supporters could be spotted in groups with hands akimbo, still expressing surprise over the magical display of the RTU boys while others took over some principal streets of the metropolis, honking of their motorbikes and cars, particularly taxi drivers, with some draped in the RTU colours of blue and white.
There was also triumphant entry into the metropolis of the hundreds of RTU supporters who witnessed the magical display of the team at Sunyani later at night as they blew their car horns and cheered on some principal streets of the metropolis.
Indeed, this is not the first time RTU has come close to relegation as the club had a couple of seasons performed abysmally.
However, last Sunday’s scare was the closest as the time ticked away to the close of the titanic match without a response from the Tamale lads who just needed a draw to survive.
RTU was formed in Tamale in September 1976, following a merger between the then Real Sportive and Northern United. And they have never been relegated since.