Sports News of Sunday, 22 November 2015

Source: goal.com

Music is not the solution - Quaye

Former Black Stars defender Dan QuayeFormer Black Stars defender Dan Quaye

Former Black Stars defender Dan Quaye has hit out at Ghana FA’s plans of holding pre-game musical performances during the 2015-16 season in order to boost attendance.

Faced with the challenge of low spectatorship and general low patronage of the local top flight, the GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi has revealed that talks were underway with various top musicians including Sarkodie, Shatta Wale and VVIP to give appeal to the league.

“The GFA can decide to bring Bob Marley and Lucky Dube to the stadium, but that would never solve the poor attendances,” Quaye told Gazzetta Ghana.

“The most important thing in football is money. That is what the GFA must address, and not bringing musicians to the stadium. There are no top footballers in the league again and that is what pushes fans away.

“If they invest in the league, players will stay for long and this will go a long way to boost attendances at the stadium.”

A member of Ghana’s squad at the 2006 Fifa World Cup, Quaye spent almost 10 years with Hearts of Oak before joining Great Olympics for the 2014-15 season following stints in China.

During his time with Hearts, the 34-year-old won six league titles as well as the 2000 Caf Champions League and Super Cup titles in addition to the 2004 Caf Confederations Cup.

“During our time [in the local topflight], there were several top stars in the league and you didn’t need any side attraction to woo fans to the stadium.

“But now every player who excels in one season runs to Bangladesh for money and that is the main problem with our league.

“Football fans don’t come to the stadium to watch music, they come to watch football and that is what must excite them.”

The 2015-16 Ghana Premier League season is expected to commence on December 20