GTV Under Fire For Shwoing Live Match

The tightrope the Ghana Football Association has been walking following its last minute sponsorship deal with pharmaceutical giants, Kinapharma came under a severe test yesterday when the title sponsors advised the Association that it was pulling out of the deal because of a bizarre happening last Sunday. Football fans and major stakeholders alike were stunned when Ghana Television telecast live the Premier League match between Hearts and Brong Ahafo United at the Accra Sports Stadium without any warning.

The live telecast was eventually cut off when starry-eyed FA officials were woken up from their various Sunday haunts and cautioned of the trouble the unapproved telecast could cause.

Kinapharma Marketing Manager, Nuamah Famiyeh Eshun told the Soccer Express that he was shocked to the core when he saw the telecast but he nevertheless recovered quickly enough to call F.A. General Secretary Kofi Nsiah to caution him of the flagrant violation of the sponsorship contract.

The FA reacted with dispatch, at least so says PLB boss, Sylvester Mensah when Soccer Express caught up with him after a hectic day of inquiry and explanations.

Mensah said his outfit was made aware of the telecast immediately it commenced and initial enquiries from GTV got a terse response that said that due to a governmental request that GTV air league matches to serve the wide sector of the population who have no access to TV3, GTV had agreed to show faith by telecasting the Hearts match.

GTV's alibi was further confirmed by its Director of Television, Kofi Bucknor who was insistent that the request for GTV to show faith had actually come from Nana Akomeah's Information Ministry. The Ministry has since denied GTV's assertion and dared GTV to come out with documentary prove.

Hearts of Oak had by the close of yesterday demanded compensation of ?500 million from the PLB and the FA had also demanded 1.5 billion cedis from GTV and also threatened legal action for what they termed an illegal act.

The government was not left out of the fray and so was the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA). Minister of State at the Ministry of Youth, Education and Sports, Rashid Bawa spent hours at the FA in meetings with FA officials to ascertain the root cause of the problems and seek immediate remedies.

Bawa spoke to officials of Kinapharma and impressed upon them to reconsider their threat to withdraw from the sponsorship package. The FA followed up with several faxed communication to Kinapharma who say they are awaiting a proper explanation of the situation from the FA today.

Kinapharma's Famiyeh Eshun told the Soccer Express that the FA requested that Kinapharma give the Association up to 5pm today to come up with a proper explanation of what went wrong and how the matter had been resolved.

"We have no problem with that," Famiyeh Eshun opined. "We will give the FA up to 5pm to offer their explanation."

Nuamah said GTV's action was very weird considering the fact that they had demanded an upfront payment, a share of the gate proceeds and some payment for the usage of their Outside Broadcast Van (OB Van) before agreeing to telecast any league matches.

League clubs umbrella organisation, GHALCA issued a strongly worded statement early yesterday and followed up with a meeting during which a four-man committee was set up to investigate circumstances surrounding the telecast of last Sunday's match between Hearts and B. A. United.

It was unclear how the matter was going to be resolved as we went to press last night. What was clear was that Kinapharma was not holding onto its earlier hard line stance, but if an interview granted an Accra radio station was anything to go by then clearly there was no element of remorse on the part of GTV.

Director of Television, Bucknor was insistent that GTV's coverage of the match came as a result of direct pressure to kowtow to the wishes of interested parties who had requested that GTV show some interest in the league. The station has not mentioned the FA's demand for compensation so far.

The FA has meanwhile written to GTV demanding the whopping compensation of ?1.5 billion as well as all tapes of the said match for destruction. GTV has also been warned not to telecast any part of the recorded version of the match and risk further action.

HEARTS DEMAND 500 MILLION

Accra Hearts of Oak is demanding compensation of ?500 million from the Professional League Board for Ghana Television's coverage of their match against Brong Ahafo United last Sunday.

A letter which was addressed to PLB Chairman, Sylvester Mensah and signed by Board Secretary, Ernest Thompson said Hearts of Oak were registering their "protest against the unlawful live coverage" of their match against B. A. United.

Hearts said the live telecast of the match had cost them huge financial loss and all attempts to get the PLB and the FA to stop the telecast proved futile. Hearts said by virtue of the failure of the PLB and its assigns to prevent the live telecast it was demanding compensation of 500 million. The defending league champions warned that should the PLB fail to respond to the demand it would advice itself on its continued participation in the Premier League.

Meanwhile PLB, boss Sylvester Mensah says it would react appropriately to Hearts' letter. He said while he sympathised with Hearts' sentiments there was no doubt that his organisation acted with dispatch to ensure that the second half of the match was not telecast.

Mensah was hopeful that the steps the PLB and the FA are taking would be satisfactory to Hearts at the end of the day.