Supporters protest against seizureTaylor's Card
GFA announces sponsorship for premier
league
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 May 2003 - The Ghana Football Association (GFA) on Friday announced a 1.5 billion cedis sponsorship packaged for the 2003 premier league which kicks-starts, on May 10 and 11 at all the league centres in the country.
Ben Koufie Chairman of GFA who made the announcement said the package is coming from a local pharmaceutical company KINAPHARMA. He said TV3, Peace FM, Graphic Sports and the Ghanaian Times would support KINAPHARMA.
The FA chairman said more companies have accepted to sponsor the league and their names would be made public by the close of next week adding that this years league is a unique following the support being offered by many companies.
He urged all stakeholders to ensure the success of the league and appealed to soccer fans to, as a matter of prime, learn the rules of the game to avoid any unnecessary criticisms of referees.
Nuamah Eshun Famiyeh Maketing Manager of KINAPHARMA on his part said his out fit was committed to providing enough money for the running of the league, which needs an image upliftment. Highlighting on the package, Famiyeh said the amount involves cash payment, marketing support and products as well as allied services.
He announced that company is having discussions with the GFA to consider a three-year sponsorship package for the league adding that details of the deal would be made to the public in due course.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 May 2003 - The Division One League Board (DOL) has predicted troubled Division One League this year but has expressed its readiness to resolve the anticipated troubles.
Douglass Djarbeng, Chairman of DOL told the GNA Sports that with the return of the league to a home and way basis there is the likely hood that clubs would go heaven and earth to win their home matches. "Unlike the successful one round novelty league, this years league would not be as smooth as the immediate past one" the DOL chairman stated.
He said acts of rowdism; hooliganism and violence are likely to show their ugly heads because home clubs would resort to unorthodox means to win at all cost. Djarbeng said home fans are also likely to intimidate referees since they could threaten them and also make attempts to influence match results.
He expressed the fear that the situation might make referees feel insecure when officiating adding that this is likely to affect the smooth running of the league. The DOL chairman said the organization has anticipated these events and is ready to face all these challenges squarely.
He said they are going to ensure a heavy presence of security personnel at all matches to protect referees and prevent the occurrence of any act of rowdism and hooliganism.
The chairman said any fan arrested for any negative act would face the full rigours of the law and clubs are going to be fine heavily for any wrongdoings by their supporters. Djarbeng described the just ended division one league, sub-middle league and the national middle league as successful since they encountered fewer problems as compared to the previous ones.
He attributed the success to the one round nature of the league coupled with the use of neutral venues for all matches saying "this accounted for the problem free league".
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Accra, Full time results of the national premier league matches played throughout the countryare:-
Accra: Liberty One (1) Hearts One (1)
Sekondi: Hasaacas Two (2) Bofoakwa Zero (0)
Bolga: RTU Zero (0) Kotoko One (1)
Obuasi: Goldfields One (1) Arsenal Zero (0)
Kumasi: Faisal Four (4) Lions One (1)
Sunyani: B.A. United Zero (0) Minestars Zero (0)
Tema: Stay Cool Zero (0) Okwahu Zero (0)
Accra: Olympics Zero (0) Power Zero (0)
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Standings after the first premier league
matches
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 May 2003 - Standings of the 16-club Kinapharma Premier League after the opening league matches played on Sunday.
HOME AWAY
P W L D F A ... P W L D F A GD pts
King Faisal 1 1 0 0 4 1 - - - - - - 3 3
Hasaacas 1 1 0 0 3 2 - - - - - - 1 3
Kotoko - - - - - - 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 3
Goldfields 1 1 0 0 1 0 - - - - - - 1 3
Hearts - - - - - - 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1
Liberty 1 0 0 1 1 1 - - - - - - 0 1
Mines Stars - - - - - - 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Okwawu - - - - - - 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Power - - - - - - 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
B A United 1 0 0 1 0 0 - - - - - - 0 1
Olympics 1 0 0 1 0 0 - - - - - - 0 1
Stay Cool 1 0 0 1 0 0 - - - - - - 0 1
Arsenals - - - - - - 1 0 1 0 0 1 -1 0
R T U 1 0 1 0 0 1 - - - - - - -1 0
Bofoakwa - - - - - - 1 0 1 0 2 3 -1 0
Lions - - - - - - 1 0 1 0 1 4 -3 0
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 May 2003 - Leading goal scorers in the Kinapharma Premier League after the first week matches played on Sunday.
1 - Don Bortey (Hearts) Asamoah Gyan (Liberty) Frank Osei (Kotoko) Eric Boakye (Goldfields) Ben Wilson, Eric Gawu, Eliasu Alhassan, Wasiu Mohammed (King Fiasal) Kobla Amewou (Lions)
Scorers chart does not include goals from Sekondi Hasaacas and Boafoakwa match.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 12 May 2003 – Alhaji Grunsah’s King Faisal beat new entrant Kpando Hearts of Lions by 4-1 in their match played at the Kumasi Sport Stadium.
King Faisal led 3-0 before half-time with Eric Gawu scoring in the fifth minute through a header and the Eliasu Ibrahim increasing the telly with a beautiful and a terrific short in the 14th minute. King Faisal exhibiting their experience over the new entrants dominated the game to the admiration of their supporters and scored the third goal through smallish Ben Wilson in the 29th minutes.
The visitors finding the going very tough, brought in Komla Amewou for Yaw Nyarko in the 22nd minute to the strengthen the midfield but it was King Faisal who was on top till the end of the half. On resumption Samuel Yeboah nearly found the net in the 47th minute but his feeble shot went off target.
King Faisal brought in Samuel Thompson for Abass Inusah who got injured in the 50th minute. Hearts of Lions came into the picture forcing the visitors to play to the gallery. It was at this stage that substitute Komla Amewou scored the consolation goal for Hearts of Lions in the 76th minute through an indirect free-kick.
Wasiw Mohammed scored the fourth goal for Faisal 88th minutes when goalkeeper Abass of Hearts of Lions failed to grab a feeble shot by diving over the ball.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 May 2003 - Supporters of Accra Hearts of Oak on Saturday laid siege at the entrance of the VIP lounge of the Accra Sports Stadium for over one hour to protest the alleged seizure of the registration card of Charles
Taylor by the Ghana Football Association (GFA.)
They accused Kofi Nsiah, the General Secretary of the GFA for taking sides in the Charles Taylor saga and wanted to take the law into their own hands.
The siege made it impossible for dignitaries who watched the match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Liberty Professionals to get out at the end of the game as they were holed in the lounge and the stand, without any access to freedom.
It took the concerted effort of some policemen under the command of Kofi Boakye, the Greater Accra Regional Commander to prevent the angry supporters from breaking into the lounge. Some of the supporters who spoke to the GNA Sports on conditions of anonymity said they needed an explanation from Nsiah about the action he took.
They said it was time to halt the bluff of the GFA General Secretary General "who thinks he is powerful enough to take unilateral decisions concerning player status." In a separate interview with Mortey Sabah, a staffer of the Hearts secretariat, he said he and Elvis Amartey, another staffer of the champion club took the cards of their players to the GFA secretariat for renewal on Friday and Kofi Nsiah seized Taylor's for no apparent reason.
He said it was unfortunate that at this time when everybody is enlightened and aware of his responsibilities and rights, Nsiah wants to arrogate to himself the status of a tin god who could muscle his way beyond reason to attain his selfish end. Sabah advised the General Secretary to release the card to Hearts who are the rightful owners in order to avert a confrontation with the supporters, adding that due process must be followed to arrive at justice in the Charles Taylor case.
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Referee Alex Quartey blasts GFA
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 May 2003 - Referee Alex Quartey, Ghana's best rated FIFA referee said the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has failed to recognise and appreciate the role referees play in the development of the game. Speaking to the GNA Sports on Saturday, the referee said it is unfortunate that the GFA tries to find faults with the referees without making any efforts to raise their standard.
He said though referees play a pivotal role in the national league those at the helm of football administration do not deem it appropriate to organise refresher courses for them to update their knowledge with modern trends of the game. Referee Quartey said for 21 years now, the GFA has not provided referees with any kits but all they do is, to castigate them at the least opportunity.
The FIFA badge referee said it a shame that the GFA still pays them 115,000 cedis per premier league match and offers them 15 cedis for food per day while GHALCA paid them 500,000 cedis each per match in addition to 40,000 cedis feeding allowance per day during the LG Top 4 tournament.
He said though the 2003 premier league has had a sponsorship package of one billion cedis, the GFA has failed to inform the referees about what their share of the deal would be. "Our job is full of all sorts of risks and we are not covered by any proper insurance policy. One of our colleagues Joe Coffie died some time ago in an accident when he was travelling to officiate in a match between Iron Breakers and Dawu Youngsters and he has since been forgotten.
"How can we perform when there is no encouragement and motivation coming from the football association?" Referee Quartey also complained about the poor state of communication between the GFA and the Referees, adding that though FIFA referee Joseph Wellington was selected to handle the match involving Real Tamale United and Asante Kotoko in Bolgatanga, he was informed only on Thursday afternoon.
He said the short notice would force referee Wellington to travel at ungodly times in order to arrive on time for the match. The referee who won the Sports Writers Association of Ghana's (SWAG's) referee of the year award on three consecutive occasions said it would be in the interest of the game if the FA would show more respect to referees by meeting with them regularly to listen to their complaints with the view of finding a lasting solution to them.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 May 2003 - Bernard Don Bortey joint goal king in last year's premier league saved Hearts blushes deep into injury time with a penalty to earn them a draw in the season's opening match against Liberty Professionals at the Accra Sports Stadium on Saturday.
In a match which saw both teams dominating a half each, it was the Phobians who kicked off and controlled the first half, especially the early exchanges, as Emmanuel Osei Kuffour created some space in the Liberty box before laying the pass to Joe Ansah who shot wide off the mark in the second minute.
After the early Hearts scare both teams settled into their strides with action concentrated in midfield with little goalmouth activities. Liberty's first chance came in the 13th minute but James Nanor rose to the occasion to push an Asamoah Gyan effort to touch.
The Dansoman lads who are gradually becoming the boggy team of the Phobians took the lead against the trend of play when Gyan, who terrorised the Hearts defence all day, capitalised on a blunder by Dan Quaye to coolly slot the ball between the legs of advancing Nanor for the opening goal in the 18th minute.
After going down, Hearts doubled their efforts to pull even but found the going tough against a well-drilled Liberty back line marshalled around Moses Abban. Liberty were forced to make the first substitution in the 42nd minute when injured goalkeeper Kotei Blankson had to make way for Cudjoe Addo.
The youthful Liberty lads who were very quick on the break nearly doubled their lead deep into first half of injury time, as Samuel Hansen forced another save from Nanor. In the second half, Hearts made two quick substitutions as Edmund Copson and Kwame Antwi made way for Frank Turkson and Kwabena Boafo but the change did not yield the desired effect as Liberty dominated the half.
In the 64th minute, Nanor brought the stadium unto its feet when he stretched to push to touch Gyan's goal bound effort from the edge of the box to keep Hearts in the game. With 20 minutes remaining, Hearts Wisdom Abbey had all the chances in the world to bring his team level as he shot wide with only goalkeeper Addo to beat. He was immediately pulled out for Awudu Amada.
Liberty's dominance continued but they failed to do the most important thing as they wasted chance after chance. With the game drawing to a close Liberty lost concentration and were almost punished in the 90th minute but Adama could not keep his cool in front of goal and shot wide off the mark.
Liberty did not heed to the warning and were made to pay for it deep into injury time when Sammy Addo used the hand to stop a goal bound shot on the goal line and Referee Atsatsa from Tema awarded a penalty kick and showed Addo the exit.
Bortey stepped up to score the resultant penalty, three minutes into added time.
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