SWAG fires back at Gaisah

Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - The Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) has said its decision to struck out long-jumper Ignatius Gaisah from the lists of award winners at the just ended 32nd Onetouch-SWAG Awards Night last Saturday, was due to gross disrespect exhibited by the athlete towards the Association.

A statement from the secretariat of the Association said Gaisah's name was struck out of the list of award winners because he had earlier dropped his interest in the event.

The athlete also described the awards as "cheap awards", when officials of SWAG contacted him to attend the event.

Gaisah a day before the event was alleged to have told an official of SWAG that "he is sick and tired of the 'cheap awards' where winners are presented with "Akuaba", meaning dolls as prizes.

The athlete was said to have demanded a return ticket to Holland, where he is based from the Association, even though he is currently on holidays in Ghana.

Gaisah also insisted that he could only attend the event if such arrangements are made for him, a condition the Association could not meet.

The Association however wish to place on record that even though it sponsored the airfare of Gaisah for previous events, this time round such an arrangement was not made for winners, hence John Mensah who was voted Player of the Year took care of his own fare from France to Ghana. SWAG therefore viewed the comments as unfortunate hence the decision to strike his name out of the list of award winners for the 32-year-old event to achieve its purpose.

Gaisah was voted the Male Athlete of the Year and was among the three nominees for the Sports Personality of the Year Award, which he missed out to Stephen Appiah on polls conducted at the last meeting of the Association as well as SMS voting, which was conducted by mobile communications service providers, Onetouch.

SWAG said even though it concedes the fact that the invitation to the athlete was late, it does not merit the kind of comments he poured out a day before the event.

The Association said it cannot be faulted for sending late invitation to the athlete since series of various attempts were made earlier to contact him which proved futile.

Without taking solace in the late invitation extended to the athlete, SWAG said it wish to place on record that, most of the award winners such as Alex Kotey- Referee of the Year and Comfort Danson - Female Handball Player of the Year amongst others got their cards a day before the event but they managed to attend the function without complaints. The Association said it wish to state that John Mensah had his invitation through his club on Thursday, August 30, 2007 and yet he was able to make it on the night to receive his award.

The statement explained that most awards all over the world are meant to honour people in a bid to motivate them to achieve more and such awards do not come with cash benefits but in situations where cash rewards comes in "they are minimal".

It therefore called on Sports Journalists to make conscious efforts at educating the public on the importance of the awards since they do not necessarily come along with financial benefits. The Annual SWAG Awards remains one of the most credible and the longest running event in the country, the statement added. Sports personalities likes Abedi Pele Ayew, Azumah Nelson and Samuel Osei Kuffour among other high profile sports personalities have once won the prestigious awards.