Sports

Don’t halt the football season – Abu Alhassan advises GFA

Many Ghanaians continue to be sharply divided as to whether the current football league season across the various divisions should continue or be truncated.

Some chieftains of the game in the country have long held the desire to synchronise the Ghanaian football calendar with that of their European counterparts and with the coming in of the COVID-19 pandemic, many see it to be the biggest opportunity for the country to execute this plan.

However, not all seem to agree as others claim those calling for the leagues to be canceled now have their parochial interests.

The latest to join the call for the leagues not to be canceled is the Executive Director of Tamale City FC, Jones Abu Alhassan.

His reason is simple: having suffered a cancellation of the 2018/2019 league season due to the Anas Aremeyaw Anas Number 12 documentary that exposed corruption and bribery in Ghana football, it would be suicidal to cancel yet another league season, as it would hugely affect the football association’s drive to seek for corporate sponsorship for the various leagues in the country.

“If we are to truncate this season’s league, then we have to find money to start again. What signal are we sending to the corporate bodies who put in money to buy broadcast rights only for the league to go halfway and then see it cancelled.”

According to him, all these companies that have already invested their monies into the current season need to be satisfied and have value for their money.

“This is the only way the football association can further court other companies to come on board and help the leagues,” he hammered.

He said since taking over the affairs of football, the new GFA  has been making intensive efforts to attract corporate sponsorship for the various leagues, “and if we are to cancel the current league season, we will be throwing spanners in the works of the GFA as its desire to see the objective of gaining sponsors for the leagues, would be derailed.”

“The corporate bodies the GFA is chasing after for sponsorship are not Father Christmas, but commercial entities who need to get their monies worth. How would they gain if we keep cancelling our leagues,?” he quizzed.

Zeroing in on the Division One League (DOL) where his club Tamale City FC currently lies third in Zone One, he disclosed that it has not been easy running affairs at the club, especially after losing the club financiers.

“We have had to start from the scratch and despite all the challenges we have been facing, we have managed to earn a place in the top three on the log and there are potentials in there for the club should the league continue. Watching all these go down the drain should the league be canceled would hurt us the most, he told Citi FM.

The GFA will decide as to whether to continue with the league or cancel it at the end of July when government is expected to make clear a decision on whether contact sports can continue in the country.

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