Gruzah: We can’t pay officiating fee

The founder and bankroller of King Faisal Football Club, Alhaji Karim Gruzah, has rubbished a directive that Division One League (DOL) clubs should pay GHC8,400 each as officiating fee before the 2015/16 league commences .

Debunking the directive by the GFA for the clubs to pay up by the end of this month, the veteran football administrator told the Graphic Sports that Division One clubs had no avenues to neither generate revenues nor raise such monies to pay the officiating fees.

“We are struggling to generate money to pay our players and buy fuel to travel to participate in our matches, so executives of the GFA should use part of their ex-gratia to pay for the officiating fees they are demanding,” fumed the Faisal bankroller.

He has, therefore, urged the management of DOL clubs to disregard the FA directives and rather concentrate on how to generate revenue to fund the league.

A GFA letter dated June 3, 2016 and signed by its acting General Secretary, Isaac Addo, gave June 30, 2016, as the deadline for clubs to settle the payments “to commence the 2015/16 season”.

“Clubs are hereby reminded to honour their commitment or risk severe sanctions after the stipulated deadline”, warned the letter, which was copied to the media.

According to Alhaji Gruzah, Faisal, who play in Zone 2 of the league, were yet to receive a copy of the letter. But he was quick to add: “even if I get a copy, I will not pay because I have no money to pay such a fee.”

However, the founder of Vision FC, Michael Osekyere, told Graphic Sports he had received a copy of the letter and was mobilising funds to pay the fee before the June 30 deadline.