This week has been an unpleasant one for Ghana sports, with football providing the saddest news yet.
We feel distressed by the tragic incident of a young referee who was lynched, as it were, by fans after a soccer match in the Western Region and who later died in hospital.
Following that was another dastardly attack by Berekum fans on the coach of a rival club who, thankfully, was breathing as of the time of going to press yesterday.
Similarly, we are pained by the news of the sudden passing last Monday of Jerry Asare (Show-show) of Kumasi Asante Kotoko fame, after a short illness.
Also known as Red Army, a nickname that Jerry acquired from his secondary school days at Ghanass, Koforidua, where his passion for Kotoko grew in leaps and bounds, his later overbearing influence on Kotoko as Director of Operations and board member made him the fans’ favourite.
He must have gone too soon. Death, how wicked!
But the nation must have been spared an even gloomier spectacle when boxing professor, Azumah ‘Zoom Zoom’ Nelson, escaped death by a hair’s breath following a motor accident last Saturday night.
Azumah, whose vehicle reportedly got damaged by another car which plunged into the side of his, was, however, treated and discharged at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital the next day for a cut on the forehead.
While we wish Azumah well, we must repeat our feeling of disgust at the soccer violence which claimed the life of the young referee, 21-year-old Kyei-Andoh.
His crime, we are told, was that he awarded a penalty against the home team. But since when did penalties cease to be part of the football game?
We think this matter should not be left lying low and expect the Ghana Football Association, in tandem with the security personnel, to vigorously pursue it and bring the perpetrators to book.
Justice in this case must not be dispensed against only the home team but also the individual perpetrators who must be apprehended and prosecuted.
The same must be extended to Berekum Arsenal and their fans for their reported reprisal attack on Nana Andy-Sinason, the coach of Unity FC, during their Division One league match in Berekum.
We must rid Ghana football of the hoodlums parading at the various centres as lovers of the game.
Our hearts ache!
