By Ken Bediako
The immediate aftermath of the dismissal from office of Ohene Djan, the legendary sports administrator, left an interesting story to be told vis-a-vis the 1967-68 national football league season which travelled 19 months but was ironically abridged.
Ladies and gentlemen this is the story of a league started on February 1, 1967 but eventually abridged the following year on September 20, 1968 after numerous interruptions covering 19 months. Maybe The Guinness Book of Records will take note.
THE LONGEST LEAGUE IN HISTORY YET ABRIDGED.
Feb. 1, 1967 – Sept. 20, 1968 (Abridged)
In the wake of the new wind of change blowing across the country as a result of the overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s perceived dictatorial regime, and the demise of Ohene Djan’s powerful grip on sports administration, there were calls from all parts of the country to widen the scope of the league. Almost every district wanted to have a representative in the national league. This desire led to six more clubs being admitted for the total to jump back to 20 teams. They were Tema Hurricanes, Accra Standfast, Agona Fankobaa, Ho Mighty Eagles, Akim United and Ho Sunset. Conspicuously absent was a team from the Northern Region.
With this new wind of change and the increased league, the season promised to be a keenly fought competition. However, beset with too many interested people trying to control the game, administrative problems cropped up and the tournament was suspended after the first round in March 1968.
At the end of the first round, Kotoko were leading with 33 points, followed by unbeaten Accra Great Olympics with 29.
Nana Fredua Mensah, a traditional chief of Bekwai Ashanti and former footballer, replaced H. P. Nyemitei as GFA Chairman. Though appointed by the government, it was obvious he did not wield the kind of enormous unilateral powers Ohene Djan had. The politics at the time preached democracy and authoritarianism was not to be tolerated. It was soon realised that Ghana might not be able to meet the deadline to submit a champion club for the Africa Cup and so a way should be found to solve the problem.
An emergency consultative meeting presided over by the GFA Chairman was called and the meeting decided that the 14 clubs which participated in the abandoned 1966 league should meet in a knockout series to select a club for the Africa Cup series. Kotoko refused to participate in this special competition because of the controversy surrounding their abortive African Cup of Champion Clubs final replay against Englebert of Zaire.
Kotoko had drawn 2-2 with Englebert in the cup final in Kinshasa in December 1967 but were declared losers through a dubious toss of the coin. Days after the match, it came to light that the coin used had the same image on both sides, privy to the Zambian referee and Englebert. Whether head or tail, Englebert would win as they had the first choice.
Kotoko’s protest to the African Football Confederation (AFC) was upheld and a replay was fixed for Yaounde, Cameroon. However, Kotoko did not turn up for the match. Apparently, they had not been informed by the GFA, headed by Nana Fredua Mensah. This monumental act of negligence by the GFA brought a sharp rift within the football controlling body and so most observers were not surprised when Kotoko refused to participate in the special K.O. series.
It was found out later that the GFA had deliberately not informed Kotoko because the replay would have clashed with an international match for the national team, Black Stars. Kotoko had the cream of their players in the Black Stars and their absence would have weakened the team.
Accra Hearts of Oak also pulled out at the semi-final stage following a GFA ruling that they should replay Dwarfs. Hearts had previously eliminated Dwarfs through the toss of a coin after a 1-1 draw in the semi-finals. Dwarfs protested against the manner in which the toss was organized and the GFA sided with them, ordering a replay. Accra Hearts of Oak responded by pulling out of the competition.
Prior to withdrawing from the contest, Hearts took the Central Organization of Sports (COS) to court. As the plaintiff, they argued that the GFA had been unfair because Hearts had won the toss fairly according to the rules governing the competition. This was the first time a Ghanaian club had taken a football dispute to court.
FIFA rules stipulated that clubs could not take football associations to court on matters concerning football. A club could be banned for taking any football association to court. Hearts cleverly circumvented that rule by taking COS to jcourt because the organization was the central body controlling sports in the country.
On the advice of elders of the club, the case was eventually withdrawn from an Accra High Court.
In the semi-finals, Wise beat Adansiman 1-0
and Hearts drew 1-1 with Dwarfs in the controversial match that resulted in Hearts pulling out of the contest.
Dwarfs won the tournament through the toss of a coin, after drawing 1-1 on two occasions with Eleven Wise in the final.
In the preliminaries, Dwarfs beat Susu Biribi 4-1; Wise beat Great Ashanti 1-0; Hearts beat Vipers 5-1; Olympics beat B.A. United 2-0; Corners beat B.A. Stars 2-1 and Adansiman beat Hasaacas 1-0. Rovers had a walk-over against Asante Kotoko, who boycotted the competition.
At the quarter-final stage, Dwarfs thrashed Koforidua Mighty Rovers 6-1; Hearts beat Olympics 2-0 and Adansiman eliminated Corners 2-1 in a replay after an earlier 1-1 draw. Sekondi Eleven Wise drew a bye and gained automatic qualification to the next round of the competition.
Dwarfs represented Ghana in the 1968 Africa clubs competition and were eliminated in the first round through the toss of a coin. Stationery Stores won the first leg in Lagos 3-2 and Dwarfs won the return in Accra 2-1. The rules at the time called for a toss of the coin in case of a tie and at 3-3 the toss was made and Dwarfs lost.
Mr. H. P. Nyemitei, who had been the GFA Chairman from 1966–67, was reappointed to replace Nana Fredua Mensah and he announced the resumption of the league on July 14 after that long spell from March 13.
This second round provided some sparkling results in Accra and Kumasi. In Accra, Hearts staged a dramatic second-half rally to beat Great Olympics 4-2 after trailing 0-2 at half-time from goals by Daniel Oti. Abeka Ankraah (2), George Alhassan and Amusa Gbadamoshie (Pele) scored for Hearts. It was Olympics’ first defeat in the league as they had finished the first round as the only unbeaten side.
In Kumasi, Asante Kotoko crushed Akim United 11-0. Abukari Gariba scored five, Osei Kofi three, while Sammy Stephens, Yaw Sam and Malik Jabir added the others. Kotoko did not, however, jubilate for long; a week after humiliating Akim United they were beaten 3-1 by Sekondi Hasaacas at the Gyandu Park.
A few incidents characterised this round. In the match between Cornerstone and Vipers at the Kumasi Stadium on August 4, Cornerstone’s 18-year-old forward, Amadu Salatu, collapsed on the pitch in the second half and died later in hospital. Doctors said he died of natural causes; football had nothing to do with his death, it could have happened anywhere, they argued.
On August 25, Asante Kotoko were stranded on their way to Ho for their match against Sunset. It was the rainy season and the flooding of River Anum at Mile 26 near Konongo had rendered the Kumasi–Accra road impassable. The replay never took place.
For the third consecutive season the league was abridged. This was on September 20 and there were nine more matches to the end of the competition. Once again, Asante Kotoko was declared champion.
A statement issued by the GFA Working Committee and signed by Mr. H. P. Nyemitei said: “The league has been abridged in view of the present deplorable conditions of our roads and the unpredictable nature of the rains which have rendered travelling to league centres almost impossible.”
Though earlier, the GFA had issued a statement that it was determined to complete the league so as “to determine the strongest club of Ghana on merit,” the association was accused of inconsistency and came under severe attack from the media and some league clubs.
Just before the Black Stars’ departure for the Mexico Olympiad, the GFA said it had given special dispensation to Accra Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko, each of which had more than four players in the Black Stars team. The two clubs were given the option to continue in the league on competitive basis, or stay out until the return of the Black Stars from Mexico when they could clear their outstanding matches. The football public considered this arrangement bogus and the GFA came under heavy attack nationwide.
Cape Coast Venomous Vipers were the most vocal. Club Chairman, Kwame Akuoko Sarpong, issued a statement saying the GFA should by then have been able to develop a means to make it necessary to subordinate its local programmes to its international engagements.
“The abridgement does not reflect the true championship form of the club so declared,” the statement added.
The 1967–68 League will go down in history as the longest and most complicated and yet could not see a successful end.
Remarkably it was supervised by two different GFA Chairmen — Nana Fredua Mensah for the first round and H. P. Nyemitei for the second round.
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.
