Alleged Fixing Of Matches - Storm Gathers Over Scandal

Welbeck Abra-Appiah — Must act

A storm is gathering over this year’s premiership as some club officials are said to be involved in the fixing of outcome of matches that has scandalized the competition.

The scheme, which is said to have gained official complicity, is set to determine the outcome of the last matches on Sunday.

Against this development, the Liberty-All Stars game at the Dansoman Park in Accra, is already set to end in a draw, Mighty Jets-Dwarfs match at Akosombo will go in favour of the homesters. While the Berekum Arsenal are in danger of being overtaken by events.

Last Sunday the suspicion of followers of the Premier League was heightened in the aftermath of the encounter between Asante Kotoko and Liberty Professionals at the Baba Yara Stadium. Without any prompting the game was delayed for 30 minutes, but sources say it was a plot to monitor events at the other league centres.

Barely a fortnight ago, some Kotoko fans ran riot against their club officials for what they believed was a fixed 0-2 loss to Mighty Jets at the Accra Sports Stadium, and in the process four of their fans were apprehended by the police for destroying facilities at the stadium.

But what has added to the messy situation is the anger that greeted the Disciplinary Committee of the FA decision to award two points to Jets and a further deduction of three points and three goals from the accumulated points of Ashgold for using unapproved jersey strips in their game at Akosombo, a development that Premier League Board(PLB) boss, Abra Apprah, has described as ridiculous.

But CEO of Mighty Jets, Jordan Anagbla, has described the effusions of the PLB boss as unfortunate and offensive to the spirit and letter of the GFA Regulations and said he will hand a protest, together with the audio recordings of the PLB to the FA.

“Is it the first time that a club has been made to lose points outside the field of play, and where was the PLB when Tema Youth and many others were relegated due to point deductions”?, he asked.

But Kudjoe Fianoo, CEO of Ashgold, has described the decision as ridiculous and said his team yesterday filed an appeal against the decision.

This new development is set to throw the league in to trouble as any appeal must be heard before the curtain is drawn on the league on Sunday.

On Sunday the battle for the Top 4 will define the character of the competition as Medeama clash with Asante Kotoko at Tarkwa, and Ashgold play Chelsea at the Len Clay Stadium, Obuasi, with RTU under threat of slipping into the soccer wilderness for the first time as they face Aduana at Tamale.

In a crucial battle for survival, King Faisal will be at home to Hearts of Oak at the Baba Yara Stadium, Liberty host All Stars at Dansoman, Arsenal slug it out with New Edubiase at Berekum, Mighty Jets welcome Ebusua Dwarfs to the Akosombo Park, but the match between B.A. Stars and Heart of Lions at Kpando is of no significance because the former is already relegated.