Other Sports of Wednesday, 28 September 2016

Source: classfmonline.com

GHALCA demands clarity over SuperSport funds

GHALCA head Cudjoe Fianoo GHALCA head Cudjoe Fianoo

The Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) has raised concerns over funds provided by DStv as sponsorship for the Ghana Premier League (GPL).

According to the association, they have information that the Ghana Football Association had received the full sponsorship amount estimated at $550,000 from the broadcast company, but each club has received only $10,000.

Speaking to Class Sports, GHALCA boss Cudjoe Fianoo said the issue needed to be effectively resolved.

“We started the league without sponsorship, so attention shifted to whatever revenue that would be coming out of the league. Last season, we were treating the SuperSport sponsorship as complementary because we had a title sponsor. But as at when it came, we were just adding up,” he told Class Sports’ Kwame Dwomoh-Agyemang.

“Here we are this year. We started with zero sponsorship, so every attention went into it, however small it was. We checked our balances last year and we got $19,500 as each club’s share of the SuperSport sponsorship deal. At a point in time, the clubs were invited to a meeting where we all agreed that the FA should go for a loan of $10,000 and $3,000 for officiating to cushion all competing clubs. So, in my books, as against last season that I had $19,500, I only have $10,000 standing in books as revenue from SuperSport. But our checks do indicate that the full amount has hit the account of the GFA.”

Premier League Board (PLB) boss Ashford Tetteh Oku was surprised representatives of clubs had failed to bring the matter officially to his attention.

He said: “The 16 clubs are represented on the Board. They are members of the PLB. When they wanted some kind of support from the FA, it was the same PLB that went to the FA, discussed the matter with them, with which the FA obliged to support it with the $10,000 loan. We had a meeting last week Tuesday but strangely this never came up. If they had issues, they could have raised it.”