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Soccer News of Monday, 14 May 2007

Source: GNA

Scrap laws that inhibit professionalism in Ghana football - Nkrumah

Obuasi, May 14, GNA - The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has been urged to ensure that all existing laws that inhibit the professional development of the country's football are scrapped.

Mr Bob Nkrumah, Chairman of the Obuasi Municipal Football Association (MFA) who made the call, noted that it was time the GFA set higher standards and work towards that.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Sports at Obuasi, Mr Nkrumah said his greatest worry was the deduction of points from clubs accumulated haul after matches.

"Points should be won on the field of play and not in bedrooms, boardrooms and what have you. The outcome of matches should stand and rather alternatives, including heavy fines should be enforced," the MFA Chairman said.

He pointed out that if the GFA had sat down to seriously reflect on the just-ended premier league, they would have realised that the enthusiasm of soccer fans was waning.

Mr Nkrumah, who is the Traffic Superintendent for Anglo-Gold Ashanti (Obuasi), added that the interest of Ghanaian soccer fans was shifting to watching European leagues on DSTV, more especially with Ghanaian players featuring in most of the matches. "At the moment, DSTV is fast spreading in the country and before we are aware, people would have stopped watching our league matches," he said.

Mr Nkrumah said it was incumbent on the GFA to sit up, examine its performance and introduce new vision and dynamism for the professional development of the game so as to whip up the fading enthusiasm of the fans.

According to the MFA Chairman, the situation where duly registered players, after featuring in some matches, are later deemed as unqualified was another issue that cast a slur on the forward march of the country's football development.

"The onus is on the GFA to scrutinise players well before they are registered so as to avoid that unfortunate player disqualification." Mr Nkrumah appealed to the FA to start publishing at any point in the league, players who were not legible to play in ensuing match because of the number of yellow or red cards to "kill off the player disqualification syndrome."

The MFA Chairman said Ghanaians had great passion for football and that the FA should ensure the proper organisation of our leagues to motivate higher patronage and interest.

"Football unites us more than partisan politics and it is high time greater attention was given to the game," Mr Nkrumah stressed. Mr Nkrumah reminded the GFA that if they did not want any club to take them to court, they should ensure that transparency worked at all times.