Opinions of Friday, 16 February 2018

Columnist:

Time for change in GFA for better Ghana football

Many people have expressed reservations about quality of the sport in the country in recent times Many people have expressed reservations about quality of the sport in the country in recent times

I am an ardent follower of the Ghana Premier League.Strongly supporting Kumasi Asante Kotoko who have turned out to be very disappointing in the past few seasons.

The Ghana Premier league has reached a point where it can best be described as dead. Spectators have shunned the stadium, best players exodus at the end of every season and the Football Association looks on unconcerned and uninterested.

For the past three seasons, the league has had to battle with lawsuits each time it is set to commence. An injunction gets imposed and it is halted destroying the plans and preparations of almost all the teams.

These litigations are always centred on the failure of the association to uphold its laws and ensure justice. The judiciary body of the association has lost its strength and worth. Last season, it ruled on an issue concerning Tema Youth who felt poorly treated and took the matter to the international court.

The court quashed the decision and ruled in favour of Tema Youth citing a clear neglect of the rules governing the association.

This has been the bone of contention each year. The clubs run to the courts outside the association crying injustice and maltreatment and secures an injunction every time the league is set to start without them for three years now.

This year, Olympics have been ignored after they raised a concern regarding a breach of the FAs regulations by Bechem United. They demanded it to be resolved which will see them escape relegation but the FA kept ignoring them. They decided to go to court and secured an injunction against the start of the league due to start this weekend whose launch was scheduled for today.

This nonsense and treatment of our League must end. The managers of the league have failed Ghanaian terribly. Two seasons now, the League is already without sponsors, suffering from low patronage and it now has to suffer this each year. Gradually the league is dying till it gets to a point where nothing can be done about it again. We lost the two spots to play in the CAF champions league to one after years of poor performance at the big stage.

Twi speaking radio stations were blamed, bringing beautiful ladies to the stadium to attract fans was suggested, the economy was of Ghana was blamed, then Parliament was also blamed all as part of finding ways to make it work.

In a country where unemployment is extremely high and government after government keep thinking of ways to solve this, we can't allow an existing major source of employment for many to die.

The potential of the league to contribute towards fighting the unemployment menace can't be underestimated. It is high time the President, Nana Addo and Sports minister Isaac Asiamah stepped in to salvage the situation.

It is time they realized the potential of the league in fighting unemployment and help save it from this disease of gross mismanagement
Three world cup qualifications for Ghana is obviously impressive, although the third one was clearly a disaster.

But the performance of the League has been all time poor for the past years. The clubs can't compete in Africa, can't maintain their stadium and can't properly take care of their players.

The call for change is long overdue and come next year, these football people must surely sit up else Ghanaians will never forgive them.
Musbau Razak.