End Of Player Harassment

Player harassment belongs to history in Ghana and our soccer is not only seeing respect for human liberty, but also safety of footballers.

We all remember the agony players went through years back by virtue of their unintentional technical mistakes on the field of play. Santrofie Acquah for instance, was assaulted when a so-called preventable goal was scored against Hearts of Oak by Cornerstones in Kumasi in 1988 after the player had refused to apply the "safety first" method.

In a related case of Joe Addo, he was accused of wasting a penalty aganst Asante Kotoko in a 4 June anniversary cup match in 1989. Hearts were 2-0 up and when Kotoko`s Muhamed Odoom fouled slippery Opoku Agyemang (Aduro) for the referee to whistle for a penalty, it then became clear that for the first time in many years, Hearts were going to record a hat-trick in a game against Kotoko. However, Joe Addo was so unlucky as his shot was saved by Odoom. Kotoko had a consolation through a Yussif Alhassan`s well-taken penalty to end the game 2:1 after which a section of the fans accused Addo for allegedly preventing a massive phobia win. This happened many years before Olympics` Nii Darko Ankrah wasted a 90th minute penalty against Hearts of Oak which fans did not spare him the blame.

Kotoko`s Saarah Mensah had to control his temper when a fan "rubishly" criticised him for wasting chain of scoring chances in Techiman (his family residence) when Kotoko lost 0:1 to Holy Stars in 1985. Nana Benyin Crentsil of Hearts of Oak fame also had his share of such assaults. His supposed "crime" was failing to prevent goals from Joe Debrah and Sarfo Gyamfi in a Kotoko 4:2 FA Cup win over Hearts in 1990. In a specific case of Edward Ansah in 1993, he was accused of allowing Olympics` Felix Moderku a late equalizer, long after Bright Obeng had shot Kotoko ahead. Kotoko got the winner deep into injury time when Seidu Yussif connected home a pass from George Arhtur.

Similarly, Sarfo Gyamfi was chased after a Ghana-Zambia match in Accra in 1988 for his dismal performance. I could guess the reaction of fans towards alledged bribery case levelled against Kotoko`s Kuuku Dadzie and Dan Oppong when the Porcupine Warious lost 1:2 to Hearts of Oak on 18th October 1976.

On July 1 1992, when Eric Asamoah`s 18th minute strike won the day for Hearts against Kotoko in Kumasi, Kotoko`s Isaac Kwakye was not only accused of playing it soft against Hearts, but also for wasting what people believed was a golden chance against goalkeeper Ali Jaraah. Other cases ranging from verbal to physical assault occurred in the 90s and players even refused to take penalties due to fear of threats should they fail to score.

Today, this negative aspect of soccer has dissappeared. We all know that clubs have structures through which grievances could be addressed. If a player is performing below par (which only the coach can tell),one can channel his case through the appropriate quarters. That is the beauty of football. We understand that some referees also present horrible image of themsleves on the pitch but assaulting them would solve no problem. All we have to do is to foward our protest to the moderators of the game.

Long Live Ghana Soccer!

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.