Security for traveling clubs now!

We have heard horrifying stories about armed robbers in Ghana attack passengers in the middle of their journeys.

It is not one, two or three. It happens a couple of times in a year with passengers left injured, maimed, brutalised and traumatised.

Sadly, now, the robbers have extended their dreadful operations to footballers – charging them down on the road after football matches.

We have had a number of such incidents of late, and it is now increasingly becoming tormenting!

The latest one on our hand is the attack on Tamale-based FC Savannah Ladies when they were traveling for a Women’s Premier League Matchweek 14 game against Dreamz Ladies FC at the Bantama Astro pitch on Saturday.

According to reports, the robbers collected all the monies of the players and thumped them with canes on top. The torture left the team physiotherapist with injury to the knee and had to be rushed to hospital. Heartily, no tragedy – as regards death, was recorded.

Only last month (March 21), Ghana Premier League (GPL) side AshantiGold SC went through similar terror on their way back to Kumasi after their game against Hearts of Oak in the GPL on Sunday evening. After the game, the team opted to travel in the night back home to Obuasi in the Ashanti Region. Some officials of Hearts, we were told, impressed on the AshGold team to spend the night in Accra and leave the following day. It fell on deaf ears.

According to a report on the Twitter page of the club, the team’s bus was attacked at Assin Endwa as armed robbers shot at the bus. Fortunately, gunshots to the front bulletproof glass could not go through as the driver of the bus managed to drive the team and all onboard to safety.

Last year, too, Ghana Women’s Premier League side Pearl Pia Ladies narrowly escaped a robbery attack after their team bus was shot at in the late hours of Monday, December 21.

The incident was said to have occurred at Yapei, a small town in the Central Gonja District, a district in the Savannah Region of northern Ghana.

The Pearl Pia Ladies were heading to Tamale after a league match against Ampem Darkoa Ladies. The three assailants tried stopping the team bus but the driver upon sensing danger sprinted on top gear.

Disappointed, they fired several gun shots at the bus, but no injuries or deaths were recorded from the atrocious blitz.

Whilst we call on the relevant authorities to beef up security on our highways to steer clear of such incidents, we also think it is incumbent on clubs to carry or engage their own security – especially when they are traveling in the night.

Alternatively, the clubs are hereby advised to avoid night travels altogether. However, if they think they must embark on the trip in the night at all cost, then it would be prudent they engage the security services or seek security advice before making trips.

However, it would also not be out of place if the clubs liaise with the Ghana FA and the Ghana Police Service (GPS) in finding ways of providing consummate security support to teams when they travel across the country.

For now, we can only thank heavens that there have not been any serious casualties in the various scary situations that we have recorded over the years.

However, let us act now before it is too late. We might not be fortunate tomorrow when those muggers strike again.

PlainTalk With John Vigah