Division One league to kick off next month
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 May 2003 - The government on Monday said the total amount in the Stadium Disaster Fund stood at 3,870,214,440 cedis at the end of April 2003.
A statement signed by Ferdinand Ayim, Special Assistant to the Minister of Information, said this was made up of contribution to the fund plus bank interest. The statements said of 2,487,714,440 cedis had been paid out as ex-gratia to the bereaved families, those who were injured and children of the deceased.
The government expressed its gratitude to organisations, institutions and individuals who contributed to the Fund it set up for victims and dependants of the deceased. It said donations to the fund were still welcomed and would be most appreciated with the current focus on scholarship for children of deceased.
The statement said all donors to the fund should contact the Ministry of Information to collect their certificate of acknowledgement and appreciation. – Graphic
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Bolgatanga (Upper East) 13 May 2003 - Supporters of Real Tamale United (RTU) and Kumasi Asante Kotoko engaged in fierce free for all fight during and after their premiere league encounter in Bolgatanga on Sunday.
They threw stones, broke plastic chairs hired from the Centre for National culture while a good number of them sustained injuries of various degrees in the course of the fight.
A bus with registration number AS 6385N hired by Kotoko supporters had its windscreens damaged during the stone "throwing war". Some players from both teams were also attacked in the process.
The confrontation began when Kotoko scored the only goal of the match through Frank Osei. While Kotoko fans were jubilating, a man suspected to be an RTU supporter pretended he was hugging the goal scorer and in the process hit the player in the left eye.
This behaviour did not go down well with the Kotoko supporters who rushed onto the field to rescue Osei and this drew more of the home supporters on the field thereby resulting in a fight. But for the timely intervention of a combined force of police and the military, things would have been worse.
The match was disrupted for about 15 minutes when the first half had only two minutes to end. At least both sides recorded casualties with blood oozing from the bodies of a number of supporters.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mahami Salifu and a number District Chief Executives who were among the crowd took turns to talk to the managements of the two teams, their supporters and the match officials.
The Regional Minister advised them to eschew violent confrontations to make the game of soccer sport enjoyable and reminded the spectators that their role is to cheer their teams to boost the morale of the players and not to engage in fights. " These fights would not bring you the goals," he emphasised.
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Football development course for Accra opens
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 May 2003 - The Ghana Football Association's five year football development course for the Greater Accra Region begins on Tuesday, 13 May with the selection of U-12 Regional Soccer Team.
An official statement issued on Monday said the ceremony would be performed by the Regional Minister, Sheikh I.C. Quaye at the Accra Sports Stadium and asked all U-12 football teams in the Metropolis and the Ga district to report form the exercise at 2.30 p.m.
The statement said the exercise would continue on Wednesday 14 May, for U-15 players while Thursday, 15 May has been earmarked for the selection of U-17 players. The programme would end on Friday 16 May, for U-20 players. It said more than 170 participants are expected to take part in the five-day course to end on Saturday.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 May 2003 - Douglass Djarbeng, Chairman the Division One League board (DOL), has hinted that this years league is likely to kick off by the end of next month.
Djarbeng who was speaking with the GNA Sports said as tradition demands the division one league kicks off a month after the national premier league has kicked off, hence preparation are underway for the take off in June. The DOL chairman said the board would soon convene a meeting to discuss the issue adding that 48 teams across the country would be taking part in the league.
He said so far only four out of the ten regions have submitted their second division champions who have qualified for the competition. The board, he said, is going to take a serious look at the issue of unqualified players in the league because this has, for sometime, been a major problem for the board since protest cases lodged by the clubs are most on the use of unqualified players in matches.
The chairman said "as a solution to the problem we are going to give deadlines for the registration of players for the 2003 division one league". "After the deadline the names of all registered players would be published to allow clubs to protest against any player when they find it necessary," Djarbeng told the GNA Sports.
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