Kudos to Ashgold, First Capital Plus

Eventually, the First Capital Plus Premier League came to an end last Sunday, with Ashantigold being crowned the champions, while Kpando Heart of Lions, Accra Great Olympics and BA United fell into the relegation quagmire.

Indeed, the final matches and, perhaps, those preceeding them had been exciting to a fault.

That is to say that even though the league appeared competitive, going by the closeness of the points difference among the teams in the top half and those in the lower half, much of it got undermined by allegations of games of convenience in the last days.

There was a semblance of competitiveness, as it was not until the final matches that the other two teams to join BA United for relegation were decided, with as many as eight teams all being locked up in the survival battle.

And since last Sunday, there have been murmurs in some high places of club management that certain clubs had been conspired against to suffer relegation.

Some developments before and after the matches tended to lend credence to the conspiracy theory, but until any credible proof is established, it will remain as mere suspicion or allegation.

However, it is pertinent to caution all involved in the running of the flagship national league to refrain from certain actions and inaction that tend to undermine its competitiveness and bring it into disrepute.

At all times stakeholders in the Premier League must be reminded that the competition is sponsored by a corporate entity whose main interest is to see that it gets the necessary mileage by way of the positive attributes that the competition commands or engenders.

In that regard, the rules and regulations that guide the competition and give it that positive image of a serious affair should be abided with by all participants.

The situation where some clubs tend to hold the competition to ransom, through threats of court action, instead of the resort to the adjudicating processes governing the league, when the settlement of grievances does not go in their favour should be avoided like the plague.

That way, among others, its sponsors will be comfortable associating with it and putting more money ‘where their mouth is’.

We congratulate First Capital Plus for its decision to come to the aid of the Premier League when it looked as if the competition was going to kick off without a sponsor.

It is also our plea to First Capital Plus that it increases the sponsorship package, so that clubs can feel confident meeting their respective financial obligations, which will in turn translate into good performance and an exciting league.

But, above all, we must praise Ashantigold for their tenacity in the closely fought competition to emerge the winners.

Kudos once again to the players and officials of Ashgold, especially Coach Bashiru Hayford, the CEO, Kudjoe Fianoo, as well as the thousand and one supporters of the club for their historic achievement.