Ex Asante Kotoko captain Joseph Hendricks has proudly revealed how playing for the club has benefited him in his life after football which has extended to his nuclear family and has entreated present and potential players of the club to be dedicated and committed to the club during their time with the club so as to enjoy after they retire.
Hendricks, who was nicknamed ‘Oreba’ by the Kotoko supporters, joined the Porcupine Warriors from Sekondi Eleven Wise for a then huge fee of GHC700 and featured for Kotoko for six seasons between 1999-2005, earning the captaincy role during which he instilled high sense of discipline in the dressing room through innovative measures and assertiveness. The former Wise defender earned the love of fans at Baba Yara stadium, winning best defender of the then LG Top 4 competition for four consecutive times as well as individual awards in the club and the fans who watched him in awe saw him as the darling boy of the club.
According to ‘Oreba’, the fans of Asante Kotoko still revere him as a legend of the club and presents him with gifts in cash or in kind throughout his time with the club, and he and his family still live to benefit from the fans of the club as well of the brand Kotoko due to his relentless dedication and commitment to the club till date.
“For me I always put it in my mind that I was serving the animal Porcupine and not human being and that’s why I survived at Kumasi Asante Kotoko”, Joseph Hendrick told Fox Sports Talk in an interview. “Sometimes we say certain things so that our brethren will learn certain things, because after football there is another life”, he continued.
Hendricks was quick to reveal how he still benefits from the brand Kotoko, citing a recent kind gesture done him by an astute fan of Kotoko.
“The service we rendered to Kumasi Asante Kotoko, after our career up to now look at my level of strength now, still I enjoy, I benefit from Kotoko still, I have no problem at all whenever I go to the Ashanti region (Kumasi), I benefit and it stretches to my wife and children. I recently went to Kumasi and one man looked into my face and said Joe come, the man dropped GHC2,000 to me, he gave that money to me and George Owu (an ex Kotoko goalkeeper), we are saying all these so that anybody who gets the opportunity to serve Kumasi Asante Kotoko should know that if he serve the Asante community (Asanteman) he will not toil in vain”, Hendricks revealed.
