Fan threatens goalkeeper with pistol during match

The spate of violence which has assumed an alarming proportion in Ghanaian football took a new dimension at the week-end when a fan pulled a pistol at the goalkeeper of an opposing team and threatened to shoot him if he did not let in goals.

The fan, who is a supporter of Akwapim United shot into the air during an Eastern Regional Second Division local derby against Aburi Highlanders at the Adonten Secondary School Park before pointing the gun at the goalkeeper.

Narrating the incident to the press, Mr George Ofeng Arthur, proprietor of Highlanders, said supporters of his club assisted the few policemen on duty to apprehend the culprit and managed seize the pistol from him.

He said their opponents regrouped and launched a counter offensive to free the culprit and succeeded in retrieving the pistol from the police, thus generating a scuffle, during which the gun went off, injuring a supporter of Akwapim United in the leg.

Mr Arthur said the management of Akwapim United sent the victim to a herbalist at Konkondru, a village near Aburi in the Eastern Region for treatment instead of sending him to a hospital in order to scuttle police investigations, as the gun was not licensed.

He said Sekesua Patient Stars, another football club, were also subjected to a similar treatment the previous weekend, forcing them to concede five goals in the second half after holding United to a 2-2 score-line in the first half.

Earlier in the season Unity Professionals of Akorkorma and Mampong United of Akwapim-Mampong had tasted such barbaric treatment from Akwapim United and had subsequently called on the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to do something about it before innocent soccer fans, players and officials of opposing teams are subjected to similar harassments.