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Reservations About Management And Organization Of Beach Soccer League In Ghana

By Dzidodo Ruben Adjahoe
Football News Reservations About Management And Organization Of Beach Soccer League In Ghana
MAR 26, 2013 LISTEN

The President
Ghana Beach Soccer Association
Accra.

Attn: Mr. Yaw Ampofo Ankrah
Cc: The Media

Dear Sir,
RESERVATIONS ABOUT MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF BEACH SOCCER LEAGUE IN GHANA

Management of League Leaders and Defending/Maiden Beach Soccer Premier League Champions Sunset Sports Keta wishes to express strong reservations about the management and organization of the Ghana Beach Soccer Premier League after over a year of hard work and commitment by various clubs to sustain a novelty sport.

Sunset Sports Keta since the inception of the league has maintained very high standards in the Ghana Beach Soccer League and the club has committed money and other resources preparing, transporting and keeping our team unbeaten till this point. Our club coming from a coastal community is very dedicated to the cause of promoting beach soccer in Ghana hence our resolve to always honour all league games unlike most clubs some of who are very close to the league venue. Our high standards, discipline and consistency can be attested to by the Ghana Beach Soccer Association.

Despite all our efforts and commitments in promoting beach soccer in the country, the Ghana Beach Soccer League sponsored by Cal Bank has been bedeviled with organizational and administrative lapses. The problems we face as Champions of the maiden league and currently the league leaders in Ghana have forced management of the club to consider our continues participation in the league if the GBSA does not sit up and concentrate on organizing a better league and developing the sports as mandated. We believe that we have the potential to develop the sports but without the necessary commitment by the GBSA our efforts will bear no fruits. The association obviously is ignorant of the fact that the interest of clubs is paramount in the development of the sports and without any guess the best clubs must be encouraged at a time we are harboring the idea of participating in international competitions. And some of the following have given us reasons to believe that the GBSA does not prioritize the interest of the clubs but the association is only interested in league games being honoured even when all the clubs are not represented.

1. After winning the maiden league championship, Sunset Sports Keta received 2,000 Gh. Cedis as prize money. The association failed to pay the 5,000 Gh. Cedis prize money promised with the explanation that the rest of the amount will be used to reward winners of the division one league. However, since a South African firm Clemencia Contacto came on board as sponsors of the Division One league, we expect that the association will pay up the rest of the amount or at least pay part of the amount. After deliberations, The President of GBSA Mr. Yaw Ampofo Ankrah promised us a reward package but we have not heard a word from him or the association till this point.

2. After emerging champions in the maiden league, the association failed to pay up the cost of transportation from Keta in the Volta Region to two events we were invited to by the GBSA including the trophy presentation to league sponsors Cal Bank and the 2012 Media Beach Soccer Unity Shield games which we won.

3. The association has paid no heed to concerns raised by clubs travelling from afar to be supported with means of transportation or to at least cushion us a bit, since most of the clubs in Accra bear little or no transportation cost on match days. We spend at least 300 Gh. Cedis on transportation every weekend whiles others will only have to walk to match venues which is obviously a very unfair treatment.

4. Participating clubs in the Premier League are due 1,500 Gh. Cedis as appearance fees as announced by the GBSA and have only received 400 Gh cedis till this point and the 400 Gh cedis cannot cater for the cost of transportation, feeding, bonuses, medical and other expenses on match weekends.

5. Participating teams in the league have all paid to have their players registered for the league but the GBSA has failed to issues player licenses since last season despite teams submitting a list of players to be registered for the season. The situation has made it possible for some teams to feature mercenary players regularly and nothing is being done about it. This situation is just one worrying case of organizational lapses facing the league which includes our match balls; goals post nets and the necessary logistics in very poor states.

6. The league from the start of this season has received little or no publicity/coverage in our estimation which makes the clubs unattractive to our sponsors or possible sponsors despite league sponsors Cal Bank making commitments to the organization of this seasons league.

7. The GBSA having put the league on hold for over three months only notified the clubs of the league's resumption via text messages and after 2 weeks of resumption there has been no formal meeting to explain to clubs why the long break and how the rest of the campaign will run. It's worth noting that at the point the association put the league on break with no word of when it will resume, Sunset Sports Keta has been in training at a very huge cost to management.

8. In spite of all the challenges facing the clubs, especially those of us from afar, we have recently not seen the President of the GBSA or his commitments. He seems to be distracted by other duties to the detriment of the National and Division one leagues.

We wish to reiterate that, Maiden Champions of Beach Soccer in Ghana and the current league leaders Sunset Sports Keta have at the start of beach soccer leagues in Ghana shown enough commitment towards the development of the sports and our records will speak for us. We can pride ourselves of remaining unbeaten in all competitive beach soccer games due to the hard work of the management, technical team and playing body of the club. But in the light of the above difficulties, the club will have no alternative but to withdraw as the financial demands are way excessive and if we continue under the current situations; our efforts will be in vain as we don't see any proper structures in place and the direction beach soccer is heading in the country.

We are asking the GBSA to put its house in order and pay heed to the above mentioned problems, for immediate solutions. We hope that the association will help strengthen the clubs instead of the current situation which in our estimation is only weakening the teams and for that matter beach soccer in Ghana.

Dzidodo Ruben Adjahoe
Chief Executive Officer, Sunset Sports Keta
[email protected]
0243 670671/020 8193802

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