GHANAsoccernet.com writer Emmanuel Baah-Aboagye digs deep into the controversial Ghana FA verdict against Kotoko which has sparked fury and confusion in the club.
I am certainly sure without fear of contradiction that Kumasi Asante Kotoko SC wished that its 80th anniversary would be celebrated well and good with the capture of the coveted MTN FA Cup trophy that was deservedly won by Tarkwa-based Medeama SC at the Esipong Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The wish and ego were botched and that dream proved a mirage at the end of the day and just when the club and its teeming and enthusiastic fan base were brooding over that painful cup loss and struggling to overcome what has been the club’s trophy debacle, the Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Football Association rocked them with yet another blockbuster of a decision that would spark series of discussions for only God knows, when such debates would stop.
Accra Hearts of Oak SC had filed a protest against the Porcupine Warriors in respect of the eligibility or otherwise of player Obed Owusu, who the former was of the believe that had accumulated 4 yellow cards – a situation that, according to the Phobians had to automatically rule him out of the meeting between the former and the latter at the Accra Sports Stadium on August 2, per the synergistic effect of articles 29(1)(e), 34(1)(e), 39(5)(a)(v) and 39(5)(b)(i) of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) General Regulations.
From the perspective of Kotoko, the player in question Obed Owusu, had indeed accumulated 4 yellow cards for which reason issues about his eligibility were raised by the plaintiff but that the player was not used in an Elite Club Cup match played against Division One side, Dunkwa United on July 15, which the latter won by 2-1 in Dunkwa-On-Offin.
The perception of Kotoko was that since the competition was an FA organized one, it was fit enough to clear the player for the subsequent official game, which was against Berekum Chelsea at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, where the defending league champions were battered by 3-0.
Series of commentaries and counter-commentaries were ran by the Ghanaian public, the media, football administrators and the respective supporters of both clubs, as to the veracity and merit of the protest filed by the former CAF Champions League winners but only time was going to tell which of the two clubs would come through as victors of this legal exercise.
Events have unfolded since and now justice seems to have been served from the plaintiffs’ point of view by the Prosper Harrison Addo-led Disciplinary Committee much to the vexation of the defendants and this is where varied opinions and unsubstantiated rumours have been expressed. In all these, my inquisition is who is right and who is not?
From a layman's point of view, It would seem relatively easier and convenient to place the blame right at the doorstep of the country’s football governing body – the Ghana Football Association, against the backdrop that the competition, whose special rules have been relied on by the defendant to legitimize the use of the player against the victorious plaintiff is a novel brainchild of the football association and is being somewhat semantically and legally questioned.
This is one novelty of a competition that was introduced by the Ghana Football Association to ameliorate an epic humiliation that was starring it in the face, in the light of a protracted law suit filed by King Faisal football club, for which reason the commencement of the 2014/2015 football league season had unduly delayed culminating in clubs raising agitations about players’ fitness and expenditure levels, among other reasons. Interestingly, as per the Tuesday ruling, one is inclined to believe that the said competition is shrouded in abject “illegality” ab initio.
To disprove or defuse one’s thought of the fact that the competition is an illegality based on how the ruling is explicit on what constitute(s) an “official match” and a “friendly” match, I think the Ghana Football Association has that mantle or onus of responsibility to come clear on the status of a competition in which the Association’s supreme leader or president has unequivocally stated that it has come to stay.
The next inquisition I would like to raise is whether or not the Ghana Football Association has been utterly fair to the clubs that have participated so far in the “sponsorless” Elite Club Cup competition in the face of the fact that the “special rules” governing it does not state that it is an unofficial competition. Or is that why clubs like Techiman City and WAFA were not sanctioned for deciding not to partake? Is that why the competition has been suspended indefinitely? Is it not the proverbial “double punishment” for clubs to share gate proceeds with the FA, incur operational costs and yet get punished for engaging in an “illegality” created by the organizers, whose regulations as regards the competition seem overly ambiguous and weird? Did the competition get the nod of Congress anyway in other words, has the competition got locus at all? More questions right?
Hearts of Oak’s General Manager Gerald Ankrah on Kumasi-based Fox Fm in June this year, sought to call on the GFA to scrap this novelty competition as substantially evident, according to him the Elite Cup is a way of adding to cost of clubs, without getting the necessary compensation for that.
At this point, let me also be quick to add that clubs that have participated in this competition, including both Kotoko and Hearts, have contributed to its famous notoriety in the sense that it was a rushed decision and a knee-jerk approach to cover up for the FA’s somewhat ineptitude and inactions as far as adjudication of cases pending at its disciplinary committee is concerned. For me, if organizers thought that such a novelty meant well for its participants, then imperatively, it could have been brainstormed severally to solicit the different opinions of all concerned so that it would be rolled out in a more mutually beneficial, stronger and attractive fashion, by which time, clubs would be acquainted with the ground rules that would govern it.
I have heard and read calls from sections of the public and in the media, particularly Kotoko’s followers that the issue has to be contested for at the competent courts of jurisdiction but as it is now, it looks like these calls are just like using a sledge hammer to kill a fly, when there is a silver lining in the appeal the club is about to file, should Kotoko use the same regulations and statutes referred to in the same ruling to overturn the status quo.
Same calls have been made by some supporters of the beleaguered former African Champions that heads must roll at the club as regards this ruling. Yes or No, heads obviously must roll at the club, after all, as Warren Buffet puts it, “should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks”.
However, in Kotoko’s case, it would look like replicating one of the simplistic ways by which the club has dealt with perennial issues over the years but still get the same old results and yet get haunted by the same mistakes they do over and over and repetitively. The question is would Opoku Nti’s sack bring back the docked points? Obviously not! The porcupine family in one accord and through concerted efforts, must stand firm and resolute to work towards reclaiming what rightfully but contentiously belongs to them.
As things stand now, Hearts of Oak are earning the plaudits for testing the veracity, merit, durability and the academic prowess and efficacy of the laws that govern Association Football and getting rewarded accordingly as the defendants, in this case, Kotoko are just victims of circumstances. That is my view anyway!
The clubs, especially Kotoko and Hearts should have fiercely and uncompromisingly resisted and opposed the introduction of the Elite Club Cup competition because it had a logical and legal deficit and an academic deficiency from the outset.
Clearly, the Elite Club Cup has done more harm than good to the clubs that have participated in it from 17th May, 2015 to date. It has proved to be a thorn in the fleshes of these clubs but for Kotoko it has proved to be its adversary and nemesis!