By Ken Bediako
April 29-Oct 17
THE SAD CASE OF NEOPLAN STARS
The season was ushered in on January 2 with an interim GFA chairman appointed by the Ministry of Sports following the sudden resignation of Chairman Lawton Ackah –Yensu. Veteran journalist Stan Abayaa, who was originally named interim chairman, turned down the offer citing his heavy schedule at the Ministry of Trade as PRO. He was replaced by L. T. K. Caesar, formerly Deputy Chief Executive of the Sports Council.
The other members were veteran sports administrator Commander Ofori-Yentumi, Nick Dadzie, Deputy Managing Director Food Distribution Corporation, Major George Lamptey, FIFA Referee and Kwaku Ampem Darko, Secretary.
The Ministry of Sports then decided that henceforth the GFA chairman would be elected at a congress comprising regional football associations and representatives from the Armed Forces, Police, Prisons, Universities Sports Association, Schools and Colleges Federation and the Sports Writers Association of Ghana.
On February 25 the first such congress was held in Accra and Mr. L. T. K. Caesar polled 31 votes to emerge chairman as against five votes by Nick Dadzie. Both were government nominees.
The new GFA chairman’s first monumental decision was to sack Black Stars head coach Osam Duodu two weeks to the 14th African Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire. Osam Duodu was replaced by Kwasi Afranie and as predicted by the doomsayers, the Black Stars flopped miserably by being eliminated in the very first round.
Ghana lost the first match 2-1 to Nigeria, beat Malawi 1-0 and lost 2-0 to Algeria to return home early.
Not unexpectedly, Caesar came under heavy media attack. He quickly resigned as GFA chairman on April 24 and was replaced by Elias Teye, a management consultant and part time radio sports commentator.
Before the league could kick off, the clubs association OGLCA protested strongly against what they said was the unfair distribution of gate proceeds during the previous season, especially the large cut for a so-called Sports Development Fund (SDF).
The OGLCA cited a Hearts–Kotoko match that grossed 400,000 cedis. SDF took 98,000 cedis while Kotoko and Hearts received 56,000 cedis each.
The clubs called for a review which was presumably done to their satisfaction because they did not complain again.
This controversial season saw the return of Cape Coast Venomous Vipers to the league after 12 years in exile. Even though 12 teams, including Neoplan Stars, entered the tournament, a court action prevented the Kumasi factory club from taking part.
An injunction by Bolgatanga Union Uppers against Neoplan Stars of Kumasi delayed the start of the league originally scheduled for April 1 and with the long battle in the courts the GFA decided to go ahead with the competition on April 29.
Union Uppers United had argued in court that they were the bona fide qualifiers from the middle league to the premier division and not Neoplan Stars. An Accra High Court Judge Justice G. D. Hayfron ruled that if the league was allowed to start, Union Uppers would forever be prevented from taking part as a first division club unless they subsequently qualified to play in the first division as they claim to have done. The GFA did not appear to be interested in playing football in the Law courts and the case could not be resolved. The GFA went ahead with the original fixtures that included Neoplan Stars. But since the Kumasi-based club could not honour the fixtures because of the court case in question, they were deemed to have technically lost all their matches and were placed last on the league table and subsequently demoted.
This must be a world record.
Indeed on July 3 an Accra High Court came out with a final ruling that Union Uppers were entitled for promotion to the national first division.
The Court said the GFA erred in the manner it ordered a replay of the Union Uppers – Alluvial Dredgers match at Dunkwa which earlier failed to travel the full 90 minutes owing to the invasion of the field by supporters of Dredgers.
It said in view of this, the GFA was bound by the evidence presented by Uppers to award them the two points and two goals in accordance with the rules of the game. This would have qualified them for promotion to the first division.
This ruling appeared to be for record purposes only. The league had travelled quite far at the time and the GFA might have considered it unrealistic to start all over again.
The league was given a sparkling start by the Western Show Boys, Sekondi Eleven Wise back from a two week training tour of Brazil with a neat 3-0 victory over Venomous Vipers at Gyandu. Theo Eshun, Ebo Smith and Kwasi Bonsu got those classic goals in a highly entertaining game.
In Accra, Hearts drew 2-2 with B. A. United; former Kotoko skipper Opoku Afriyie netted both goals for Hearts and Sam Boateng also scored the two goals for United. Other exciting results were Olympics 1 RTU 0; Kotoko 2 Corners 1.
In the second week, Hearts called the bluff of Wise with an Ofei Ansah penalty goal in Accra. The ‘Show Boys’ were, however, back to form the following week and they whipped B. A. United 3-0 at Gyandu. Kwasi Bonsu, Kofi Abbrey and Peter Ankomah were on target.
Kotoko, plagued with agitations from some supporters to sack chairman Yaw Bawuah, lost 1-0 at home to close rivals Hearts through Sam Yeboah’s 85th minute sizzler.
Still brooding over that defeat Kotoko could not honour their next match against RTU at Tamale, citing lack of transportation and they were declared losers.
Obviously crest fallen, Kotoko tried to find a redeemer in their new British coach, Ron Heckman, but their home match against Bofoakwa on July 13 ended in a drab goalless affair.
Two interesting results up to the end of the first round were Hearts 2 RTU 1; Corners 2 Wise 0.
RTU started the second round on July 29 with an impressive 3-1 home victory over Olympics and B. A. United beat Hasaacas 2-1 at Gyandu in the other exciting fixture. The match at Cape Coast between Vipers and Wise ended abruptly seven minutes to time when fans invaded the pitch in protest against what they perceived to be biased officiating. Wise were leading 2-0 from goals by Johnson Smith and Isaac Ayippey.
Vipers lost the points and so did Accra Hearts who failed to turn up for their July 8 fixture against Corners in Kumasi. The GFA did not find the reasons for their absence ‘convincing enough’.
Olympics were the top attraction in the 12th week with a superb 4-0 home win over Bofoakwa. Ben Kayede got a hat-trick and Acquaye Maclean added the 4th from the penalty spot. At this stage, the top four were Hearts 16, Olympics 15, RTU 14, and Kotoko 14.
The competition became keener as Kotoko beat league leaders Hearts 1-0 in Kumasi on August 13 courtesy a great shot by Ebo Mends in the 44th minute. This defeat enabled RTU to close the gap at the top when they beat Bofoakwa 2-0 in Tamale through Anane Kobo and Mohammed Choo.
The two most exciting results on August 15 were Olympics 1 Hasaacas 1; Hearts 2 B.A. United 0.
Both Kotoko and Hearts lost in succession at Gyandu. Hasaacas beat Kotoko 1-0 through Alhaji Bello and the following week, Wise beat Hearts 2-0 through John Bannerman and Theo Eshun. This victory pushed Wise to the second spot with 16 points, only two behind the leaders Hearts.
But RTU were to shock Wise in Tamale with a 1-0 defeat through Dauda Ahmed, whilst Kotoko drew 1-1 with B. A. United in Kumasi.
Hearts stole the show in the 15th week with a thumping 4-0 win over Okwawu United in Accra. Opoku Afriyie got a hat-trick and Robert Hammond added the 4th. The table at this stage read Hearts 20, RTU 20, Olympics 19, and Kotoko 18.
The top clash between Olympics and Hearts on Sept 2 ended abruptly in the 52nd minute when Olympics refused to continue play. They were not happy with a headed goal by Sam Yeboah from Ofei Ansah’s free kick and walked off the pitch. As punishment, Olympics forfeited their share of gate fees plus the points.
To add more to their misery, Olympics were sacked from the GFA on September 8 for taking the Association to court. The court case had nothing to do with the abortive match against Hearts, rather it was a protest lodged against B. A. United in an FA Cup match which they lost 2-1. The beef of Olympics was that the GFA had failed to sit on the appeal so they took the matter to court.
The GFA invoked Article 36 of the rules which forbids members from taking the association to court. Olympics, under pressure, withdrew the case from court on Sept 11 “in the need to foster friendship, love and unity and development of sports in Ghana,” said a statement signed by club secretary Ade Coker.
The ban was quickly lifted but the GFA decided to commute the expulsion to ‘an appropriate fine deductible at source’, said a statement signed by GFA secretary Kwaku Ampem Darko.
RTU hit the headlines in the 17th week on September 12 with a massive 5-0 win over Corners in Tamale. Anane Kobo scored twice and Alex Agyekum, Kwame Danger and Ahmed Dauda added the rest. Hasaacas beat Hearts 1-0 at Gyandu in the other exciting fixture of the week. Kwaku Ofori scored in the 7th minute with a great pass from Asare Boateng.
The league took a dramatic turn in the 18th week on September 26 with two ‘suspicious looking results in Kumasi and Accra. Kotoko beat Olympics 7-5 in Kumasi and Hearts beat Corners 3-0 in Accra. As if by design, Ben Kayede who was in the race for the goal king title scored all the five goals for Olympics. Ebo Mends (2), Kwame Sampson, Isaac Afranie and Kwabena Mensah scored for Kotoko.
Scorers for Hearts against Corners were Opoku Afriyie (2) and Joe Amoateng. Hearts were at this stage fighting a close race with RTU and the suspicion was that Corners might have played it soft because of the perception the two clubs are traditional allies.
A bewildered GFA reacted by freezing the gate proceeds of both matches, they suspended the final two fixtures and set a probe into the whole affair. The probe, headed by Mr Kwaku Ganu, a lawyer, concluded after the very first meeting that it would be almost impossible to prove fixed matches. The GFA then ruled that the clubs forfeit the gate proceeds plus a fine of 100,000 cedis each or a fine of 300,000 cedis whichever is higher and warned that “in future” more punitive measures would be taken against offending clubs including forfeiture of points.
Meanwhile RTU, third on the table, called on the GFA to declare them champions following allegations that matches involving the two close challengers were fixed.
A statement by club spokesman Alhaji Jawula accused Kotoko and Hearts of “going into an unholy alliances and worthless conspiracies to halt the championship aspirations of RTU”.
Sekondi Eleven Wise, also in the title race suggested in a statement that the league be scrapped and instead a six club competition involving the top six clubs, Hearts, RTU, Kotoko, Wise, Olympics and Hasaacas organized “to select a worthy champion to represent Ghana in the Africa Cup”.
Alternately, Eleven Wise wanted both Hearts and Kotoko to forfeit the points for the league to go ahead. All the suggestions by RTU and Wise were ignored by the GFA. The league resumed with three crucial penultimate matches at Cape Coast, Sunyani and Sekondi. Hearts beat Vipers 1-0 at Cape Coast, Kotoko lost 2-1 to Bofoakwa at Sunyani to drop from the title race and Wise beat Hasaacas 1-0 in a local derby to join the title chase.
The final matches on Oct 17 saw Hearts beating RTU 1-0 in Accra to win the league, thanks to Emmanuel Botchway’s 53rd minute clincher.
Kotoko lost 1-0 to Hasaacas in Kumasi through James Otchere in the 7th minute, Joe Tex missed a 25th minute penalty for Kotoko, Eleven Wise whipped Corners 3-0 to snatch the second spot and B. A. United were top scorers in a 4-2 win over Vipers at Sunyani.
On the whole, Vipers appeared to have lost the appetite for big time football after that long absence and were relegated alongside Neoplan Stars.
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.
