Metro TV threatens Kotoko blackout

Metro TV say they will not telecast games involving Kumasi Asante Kotoko from the Baba Yara Stadium 'unless there is a change of monumental proportions'.

The television rights holders for the Ghana premier league who also handle the production for SuperSport say their commentators were attacked and their cables damaged following Wednesday's league match between Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Berekum Chelsea.

Kotoko won the game 1-0 with a controversial Michael Akuffo penalty after Nathaniel Asamoah went in the box. It was a call that Metro's match analyst Nana Agyemang disputed during commentary which seemed to have sparked that attack.

Head of Metro Sports Christopher Opoku says he intervened personally to shield Agyemang from angry Kotoko fans as they attacked him.

Opoku says the fans later converged around the station's outdoor broadcasting unit and cut off cables whose worth he says is around $100,000.

"Unless there is a change of monumental proportion we won't telecast any games involving Kotoko from Kumasi so that we can have our peace and Kotoko fans can have theirs. We have made that clear to the Ghana Football Association and the Professional League Board", Opoku said.

Head of Kotoko Media and Supporters Relations Listowell Abankwah told kickoffGhana that the club will apologise to Metro TV and seek to resolve an issue that could serious implications for the television coverage of the Glo Premier League.

The assault on the Metro facilities was not the only soar point on an evening when Kotoko went three points clear at the top in the Glo premier league. Chelsea official Oduro Sarfo was manhandled and heckled in the VIP box for comments he made about the health of Kotoko striker Ahmed Toure in the build up to the game.