Harry Zakkour to resign if ......

THE threat of Hearts Chief Executive, Mr Harry Zakkour to resign if Hearts fail to win the 2001 Star Premier league, Kotoko's determination to win the league for the first time in eight years, the collapse of 50 fans in course of the Kotoko-Hearts encounter at the Kumasi Sports Stadium from fatigue and hunger and tight security at the stadium to prevent any mayhem were some of the highlights of last Sunday's league match dubbed, "The clash of the titans".

The hype surrounding the match lifted expectations and anxiety over who would carry the day so high that with the recent Accra Sports Stadium disaster in mind Metropolitan Security authorities did not leave anything to chance to prevent a repetition of mayhem.

The end however brought home to all that when everything is done properly and well, without anyone feeling cheated there should be no cause for alarm.

Therefore when at the end of the game everybody left the pitch and stadium satisfied all were justified in celebrating a good job done and in showering praises to the Almighty for his providence.

The emphatic 2-0 victory chalked by the Porcupine Warriors Kumasi Asante Kotoko over their arch rivals, Accra Hearts of Oak might however blind their teeming supporters into assuming that their team now stands a good chance to at long last capture the Premier league trophy, which as eluded them for quite a long time.

However, to Mr Harry Zakkour, Chief Executive of Accra Hearts of Oak, their defeat would rather galvanize them to eliminate all obstacles on the way to win the league for an unprecedented fifth time to confirm their superiority over Kotoko in particular and the other teams in general.

To prove that he is very serious about his utterance, Mr Harry Zakkour threatened to resign as Chief Executive from the Continental Club Champions (CCC) if Hearts fail to win the premier league trophy.

In a post-match interview with the Graphic Sports Mr Zakkour commended Kumasi Asante Kotoko for defeating Hearts for the first time in as many league matches as possible but stressed that the defeat would in no way affect their forward match to capture the premier league trophy "because it has now become the bonafide property of the Phobians".

"I have no problem with this defeat because today Kotoko played better than Accra Hearts of Oak, however we are still leading and to me that is the most important thing", he noted.

He said Hearts have good matches to play at home to gather more points to win the league, threatening that, "I would at all cost resign if Hearts fail to win the league".

In reaction to Hearts threat to win the league, Mr. Kennedy Agyepong, Vice Chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko said the Porcupine Warriors are no mood to allow Hearts to win this year's premier league.

"We have the best coach in Africa at the moment who has devised a strategy to win the league trophy so the players are not playing any how as you may be tempted to think", he noted.

He said the defeat of their arch rivals, Accra Hearts of Oak at the Kumasi Sports Stadium is to reassure their teeming supporters that this year belongs to the fabulous club.

"My appeal to the supporters is to be patient and continue to rally behind management because this year the players are more determined to offer them the league trophy to compensate for the previous misses since we took over the helm of affairs", he stressed.

Mr. Agyepong pointed out that the battle line has now been drawn between the two giants in Ghana soccer and with the players more committed than ever nothing would stand between them and total victory in subsequent matches.

One significant thing about last Sunday's match was the friendly manner that supporters of both teams trooped to the stadium together in spite of the rivalry between them.

Many fans especially those from far off destinations slept at the stadium to get early entry. As early as 6 a.m most of the fans clothed in their teams' colours were seen trooping to the stadium in their number singing to the praises of their teams and teasing each other.

This friendly manner that the fans exhibited went a long way to defuse the otherwise tension that had built up prior to the match.

All tickets had been sold out by 11 a.m. and that gave ticket racketeers the opportunity to use other methods to allow fans into the stadium.

Many fans, who could not obtain tickets returned home and stuck to their radio sets to make amends for not being able to watch the exchanges live.

The early entry of the fans into the stadium, their continuous cheers despite the hot afternoon heat from sunshine, thirst and hunger played a major role to sap the energy of most of the fans resulting in the collapse of as many as 50 of them.

However the presence of the police ambulance, Red Cross and the St. Johan's ambulance team averted any catastrophe as most of them were either treated on the field or whisked to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for medical attention.

To prevent the re-occurrence of the May 9th disaster as many as 500 security men made up of the police, military, fire service, city guards and BNI among others were put on duty at the stadium. And though their presence forestalled any mayhem, the actions of some of the policemen especially those in the car park, gave some cause for concern.

Whilst some of them mingled with the fans, others were deployed at the main arena to ensure that the match officials had the free hand to perform their duty.

In all, last Sunday's match was played in a more competitive manner and fans had a lot to cheer about.

In spite of the defeat of Accra Hearts of Oak, their fans mingled freely with Kotoko fans, who celebrated deep into the night and continued the next day.