Court Puts League Table On Hold!
The Cape Coast High Court is the latest legal institution to deliberate on the jinxed 2003 Kinapharma Premier League and it has joined the fray in spectacular fashion, putting the publication of the final league table on hold.
The decision of the court to place an injunction on the league table follows a writ filed by a supporter of Obuasi Goldfields against the FA’s deduction of various points from the club over the now infamous Valentine Atem case.
When the case was called last week lawyers for the FA impressed upon the court not to place an injunction on the league as the declaration of champions would not be affected should Goldfields eventually get their points back.
But the court did not hesitate to slap an injunction on the final league table of the season until it determines the merits of the case brought before it.
That effectively means that the Ghana League Clubs Association cannot go ahead to announce final participants for the Coca Cola Top Four as Goldfields could shoot to the fourth position of the league should they get their points back.
The case was called yesterday but was adjourned again to Thursday and at the time of going to press the Professional League Board was at sixes and sevens over the issue as their hands were tied from issuing the league table.
The Board, our sources confirmed would issue a press statement today to explain why the league table is on hold.
The Goldfields argument it seems cannot be wished away. Days after the Appeals Committee reviewed the case and upheld its earlier decision to deduct 12 points from the accumulated points of the Obuasi club, the Minister of State in charge of Youth, Education and Sports, Rashid Bawa lashed out at the FA for contradictory decisions lamenting the sleepless nights he had been having over the mess at the FA.
The Justice Aboagye led Appeals Committee who felt their credibility had been questioned by the Minister’s utterances met Bawa’s statement with a resignation decision.
The court injunction is the latest in a series of events that has seen the Obuasi club even send the matter to FIFA for interpretation.
There may be more in the pipeline and the final league table can stay on the files for now.