Former Black Stars striker, Augustine Arhinful has condemned the act of publicly publishing the names of scouts by African countries during tournaments.
The handlers of the senior national male football team, the Black Stars, have published seven names in addition to the technical team as backroom staff which includes Coach David Duncan, Coach Didi Mas- Ud Dramani and Coach Sellas Tetteh as scouts.
This, Arhinful sees as inappropriate since scouts work underground and their names ought to be hidden.
According to the former Borussia Dortmund player, elsewhere, the identity of scouts is not revealed because of security purposes; and also, because the information they bring on board to assist the coach is vital.
“It is only in this part of the world that scouts are named and announced publicly. I don’t know whether it is to impress the public or whatever,” he told Asempa Sports.
“Have you ever heard of the scouts of Germany national team before? You can internally delegate people to do the scouting for you but to publicly announce them, we have to be very careful.
“Ahead of the 2015 AFCON in Equatorial Guinea, C.K. Akunnor and I were sneaking in to go and watch the last training section of South Africa because it was very crucial; but they were able to identify us and walked us out from the stadium with the military,” he revealed.
A football scout attends football matches on behalf of clubs to collect intelligence; there are two types of scouts: player scouts and tactical scouts.
While the player scout evaluates the talent of footballers with a view to signing them, tactical scouts assess the matches of upcoming opponents of teams.
Source: Adomonline | Amenyoh Raphael | Asempa Sports