May 9 tragedy commemorated
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, on Monday joined officials of the Ghana Football Association(GFA), the National Sports Authority (NSA) and hundreds of football fans to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the May 9 Stadium tragedy.
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The disaster, described as the worst in the history of African football, occurred as a result of a stampede at the Accra Sports Stadium when police fired volleys of tear gas into the stands to control crowd violence in the aftermath of a league match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko on May 9, 2001. The stampede resulted in the death of 126 fans.
A wreath-laying ceremony took place on Monday morning at the May 9 monument at the main entrance of the Accra stadium with the minister, GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi and representatives of Hearts, Kotoko and the bereaved families all laying wreaths in memory of the victims.
Mr Vanderpuye, in an address, said Ghana was still a long way from totally eliminating violence at the various stadia but remained confident the necessary steps would be taken by all stakeholders to ensure violence-free competition.
"Let the sacrifice of our brothers and sisters who fell be a reminder to all of us that violence in sports does not pay," he advised.
The GFA president noted that the commemoration of the May 9 disaster was an opportunity to sound warnings to sports fans about their behaviour at sports events. He added that the lessons of the May 9 tragedy have influenced the FA’s statutes and regulation to take a stronger view of violent conduct at football games.
"Just recently Accra Hearts of Oak were sanctioned, Bibiani Gold Stars were sanctioned and many other clubs have been sanctioned because of the violent conduct of their supporters,” Mr Nyantakyi said to emphasise the FA’s new approach to football violence.
The Secretary of the Stadium Disaster Board of Trustees, Christopher Annan, disclosed that 148 children of the deceased were beneficiaries of the fund at the inception, and currently 77 are enrolled in school with 38 at the basic level, 33 at the secondary level and six at the tertiary level.
