Former vice president of the Ghana Football Association, Fred Pappoe has said football in the country is dying and will take an attitudinal change from stakeholders to reverse the trend.
Pappoe, who spent five years serving as Kwesi Nyantakyi’s vice between 2005 and 2010, was reacting to news that Division One league clubs will have to cough up a whopping GHs 30,000 each as officiating fees for next season after the league’s sponsor, GN Bank, decided against renewing their contract.
Pappoe, who is also chairman of relegated premier league side Accra Great Olympics, described the figure as “insensitive” while questioning the FA’s inability to maintain sponsorship deals.
Polytank, First Capital Plus, OneTouch, Glo, Goldfields Ghana, GNPC, have all either pulled out of contracts with the GFA before their expiration or acted against renewal upon expiration, raising eyebrows about the FA’s management of sponsorship deals.
Asked if he thought Ghana football was dead, Pappoe told Happy FM: “Ghana football is not dead, but it is dying against all available parameters. It is not an opinion. It is a fact.”
Pappoe’s comments come at a time Ghana football is grappling with integrity issues with allegations of match fixing and bribery of referees littering last season’s league. The Black Stars have also failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in fifteen years while the youth teams have not won a trophy since 2009.
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By: Fentuo Tahiru/citifmonline.com/Ghana