Ex-GFA boss demands stricter sanctions to eradicate hooliganism in Ghana football

A FORMER Ghana Football Association (GFA) Chairman, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, is calling for stricter sanctions against both clubs and hooligans, in the wake of recent incidents of unruly behaviour during matches.

He has proposed a multifaceted approach to tackle this issue, including point deductions, substantial fines for offending clubs and the prosecution of individual wrongdoers as effective measures to eliminate misconduct at our league venues.

Expressing his dismay at the vandalism at the Kwame Kyei Sports Complex in Abrankese last Sunday during the betPawa Premier League match between Nations FC and Asante Kotoko, he emphasised that unless clubs faced severe consequences for the misconduct of their supporters, the issue of hooliganism was likely to persist in Ghana’s football.

Last Sunday, some irate fans of Kotoko went on the rampage as they ripped off plastic chairs at the stadium and pelted the match officials with sachet and bottled water in protest at a late penalty awarded to Nations FC at a time Kotoko were leading 2-1. The incident compelled the referee, Abdul Latif Qadri, to temporarily halt the game until calm was restored.

“The owner of Nations FC, Kwame Kyei, has served Kotoko very well and it is unfortunate supporters of a club that he served as board chairman should behave this way. It is time some kind of civility was brought into our football and that can be done by punishing hooligans that will be arrested by the police”, observed Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, GFA chairman from 2004 to 2005.

He also urged the football authorities to surcharge Kotoko for every damage caused by their supporters and deduct points from whatever they had accumulated to serve as a deterrent to others. 

“With the question of Nations FC and Kotoko and the destruction that took place there, the responsibility should go to Kotoko. They should be made to repair and pay for the damage, and in addition to that they should lose points because if clubs start losing points, they will make sure their supporters behave well,” he said.

A director of Hearts of Oak, Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, said no club should be considered greater than the FA, and he called on the sport’s governing body to deal decisively and even-handedly with all clubs in that regard. 

“If some of us realise that because they (FA members) own clubs and because of that they are unable to come out with these stiff punishments we know what to do. Some of us are ready to face them.”