Journalists Threaten To Boycott LG Tournament

Sports journalists covering the ongoing LG Top Four Tournament have threatened to boycott the rest of the matches if security personnel at the stadium do not change their attitude towards them. Media personnel were manhandled at the main gate of the Accra Sports Stadium barely an hour before the Hearts of Oak and Great Olympics match kicked off on Sunday for no apparent reason.

The media men produced their ID cards to convince the security guards of their mission there, but the guards would not listen. In the process, Veronica Commey of the GNA Sports desk lost her mobile phone while Andrew Nortey of the Ghanaian Times had his wallet stolen.

After the incident, both the print and electronic media had an emergency meeting with the President of the Sports Writers Association Ebo Quansah, where it was unanimously agreed that until the phone and the wallet were returned, coverage of the rest of the matches should be suspended.

The media urged the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) to designate a specific gate for all media personnel to avoid a situation where they would have to struggle with fans for space. They contended that the success of the LG tournament had to a very large extent, depended on the publicity given by the media. They therefore described the incident at the gate as a stab in their back.

GHALCA has been given up till the middle of this week to react else; the rest of the matches would be boycotted by sports media.