Sports
Football’s pitch brutality
Steadily but speedily, a damnable spate of violence is brutally cutting through the nation’s domestic football leagues.
For a few days now, the Ghana Premier League (GPL) and the Division One League (DOL), have witnessed some despicable scenes on the pitch, which do not auger well for the good of the game, at all.
The Football Association (FA), though, has rightly acted swiftly – splashing home bans on the offending clubs – but they could do more by identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators.
So, it came to pass that on Sunday, February 7, supporters of Nsoatreman FC attacked players and officials of RTU after their Zone 1 Division One league tie played at the Twumasi Sports Complex at Nsuatre in the Bono East Region.
The victims sustained various degree of injuries.
Credible sources say, fans of the home team were apparently dissatisfied with the referee’s performance, deciding to vent their spleen on the poor, defenceless players and officials of the away team – RTU, who drew 1-1.
Upshot of that ugly incident is that, the FA has for now banned the Twumasi Sports Complex indefinitely.
Another Division One League side, Wassaman FC, have had their home base ‘locked’ indefinitely for holding the referee hostage, following the abrupt end of their Zone 2 match against Star Madrid FC, last week at the Ejisu Okese Park in the Western Region.
Again, this week, the PRO of King Faisal – one Awal Mohammed, attempted to physically attack Referee Maxwell Owusu, in the first half of their Premiership encounter against Medeama SC, allegedly accusing him of denying them (Faisal) an ‘obvious’ penalty. Play was reportedly held up for several minutes as security men tried fiercely to subdue the unyielding ‘Hercules’ in Awal. Faisal won 1-0.
Whilst the FA must be accorded some honour of salute for their courage to address the incident of violence on our pitches head-on, methinks they can do more.
We are aware that the FA has their video cameramen at all the venues who may have captured these sordidly brutal and embarrassingly unacceptable scenes.
Thus, it would not be out of place if the hoodlums are identified in the various videos, arrested and handed over to the police for prosecution.
If we sit unconcerned and allow these miscreants to go scot-free, they would come back and haunt us again; maybe this time, with a more tempestuous force.
Indeed, that is the only way we can be seen to be fighting hooliganism and all such despicable behaviours at our various stadia.
If the referee is deemed to have erred on the pitch, you do not take the law into your own hands and deliver instant justice. It does not help the game! It is barbaric!
That is not to suggest that referees should not be disciplined when they churn out a bad performance. No! The FA is already at that lash, cracking the whip with suspensions and bans here and there.
Let our fans help make the game incident-free as we all work in diligence to rebuild Ghana football and duly bring back the love.
PlainTalk with JOHN VIGAH
Otto Addo is taking a calm and focused approach to the World Cup after being drawn against England, Panama, and Croatia in Group L.
“I look forward to every game as special,” he told ghanafa.org.
“Very important for us that we don’t underrate any team. For sure, England is the favourite in that group,” he acknowledged. “But for me as a coach, to be honest, I’m looking at each and every game equally.”
Addo is particularly focused on getting a strong start against Panama. “I’m hoping that we have a good start against Panama, that will be very, very crucial,” he said. “It will make the other games a little bit more relaxed and easier for the players psychologically. We will use the window of March for test matches, and then see,” he said.
Despite being a young team, Addo is proud of his squad’s progress. “I think we did very well in the qualifiers ” he said. “We didn’t lose a single official game, like the qualifying games, we did very well. We just played one draw and the rest we won, so we had quite a good year in 2025, after a bad year in 2024’’.
“Even though we have a very young team, we really, really did well, had a good harmony in the team, good union,” he added.
Ghana will open their FIFA World Cup campaign against Panama in Toronto on June 17 before facing England and Croatia in the other Group L matches on June 23 and 27 respectively.
The unbeaten away run of Accra Hearts of Oak will be put to the test tomorrow when they visit the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium in Tamale to play as guests of Karela United. Described as one of the top-liners of the weekend games, the match will pitch one of the best home teams against the best away team, with their records on the line.
After playing a pulsating 2-2 draw with Kumasi Asante Kotoko last week, league leaders Medeama SC return to their fortress, the TnA Stadium, to welcome Berekum Chelsea FC in a clash of former league winners. Medeama have struggled in recent times to hold their own against the ‘Bibires’, losing their last four games both home and away.
However, according to Head Coach of Medeama, Tanko Ibrahim, that sequence of results will come to an end tomorrow as they look to crawl out of the claws of their opponents with victory. Eleven points separate the sides, with Berekum Chelsea lying a distant 14th position on the log. They have been a pale shadow of themselves this season, and it remains to be seen if Coach Samuel Boadu’s side can keep the bragging rights over the Yellow and Mauves in what has been described as one of their worse starts to a league season.
Today, second-placed Kpando Heart of Lions will trek to the Kwame Kyei Sports Complex in Abrankese to play as guests of struggling Nations FC. Having suffered a 1-0 away loss to Basake Holy Stars in their last game, Nations FC would look to pick all three points to better their current 12th position.
In other games, the Hohoe Sports Stadium will come alive as new boys Hohoe United FC welcome Kumasi Asante Kotoko. The Nii Adjei Kraku II Sports Complex in Tema will host the Vision FC versus Young Apostles FC game, the Tuba Astro Turf will host the Dreams FC versus Bechem United FC clash, while the Nsenkyire Sports Arena will host the Samartex FC versus Bibiani Gold Stars game. High-riding Aduana FC will sort things out with Basake Holy Stars at the Nana Agyeman Badu I Park in Dormaa.
By Raymond Ackumey
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