Other Sports of Wednesday, 27 July 2016

Source: ghanasoccernet.com

Government failed to pay reward package - Emmanuel Bentil reveals

The 1995 U17 World Cup winning squad The 1995 U17 World Cup winning squad

Captain of the 1995 batch of Ghana's U17 side the Black Starlets Emmanuel Bentil has revealed that government is yet to honour her promise of paying the players $5000 each for winning the World Cup in Ecuador.

Bentle, who is now training as a coach, in an interview with Ahortor FM in Accra revealed that the then Jerry John Rawlings-led government promised the players that said amount but all attempts by the leadership of the team to retrieve the said money proved futile.

In the interview, Bentil said "The government still owes us an amount of $5000 each for winning the 95 U17 World Cup. We were promised that amount to win the World Cup and we won."

"But when we asked for the money after the tournament, we were told that we will be given the money when we come to Ghana.

"As the leader of the team, I approached the leaders for the money but we were told to wait. I had to leave because my team was waiting for me. So I left.

"And up to this time, the money has not been paid," he added.

Reports of government’s unfulfilled promises to players has been a practice with Ghana as Black Stars player in the early 90s and the mid 2000s had complained of similar treatments.

It took the President Mahama-led government to honour the promise made to the 1963, 1965 and 1978 squads recently.