"We feel sabotaged"

Accra, Sept 20, GNA - Mr Aloysious Denkabe, Chairman of the Black Queens Management Committee says it feels sabotaged by the Ghana Women Soccer League Clubs Association's (GHASOLCA) decision not to release players for national camping.

"We feel very sabotaged by their action and feel that must have been the last resort only when everything else had failed", he told the GNA Sports on Tuesday.

GHASOLCA has congealed their position not to release what they called "our bona fide properties" to the national camp after accusing the Ghana Football Association (GFA) of insensitivity towards the plight of women soccer.

The Chairman told the GNA Sports that he was disappointed that, "individuals have opted for confrontational path instead of dialogue". Though he reckons the Association has a point in articulating their problems since the discord began some two weeks ago, he insists "it is needless to sabotage our own national program when the implications are so obvious".

Enumerating the setback that the recent action has caused the national quest, he said "the coach needed about four weeks to study the girls to enable us commence preparation for both local and international assignments".

The Queens were billed to play their bitter rivals, the Super Falcons of Nigeria in a special friendly later in the month before hosting South Africa's Bayana Bayana next month.

Mr Denkabe said that, "from the look of things, none need be told as to why we would have to ask for a referral at this stage where the games would have profited us so much".

The camping was expected to be Coach Bashiru Hayford's first assignment since assuming the reigns of the team earlier in the year. The umbrella body about two weeks ago directed its affiliates not to release their players for camping, citing insensitivity on the part of the GFA towards the development of women soccer. They accused the FA of calling the players only when their services were needed but later dump them as waste material after the national assignments.

The Association also accused the GFA of disrespecting them when the latter invited players for camping through a newspaper publication without first notifying them. Though tightlipped about the next action his outfit would take following the obvious hiccup in the negotiations, Denkabe expressed the conviction that both parties would soon find a common ground to settle their differences. 20 Sept 05