Kotoko have a case, but...
Kumasi Asante Kotoko stirred yet another controversy this week after coming out to vehemently protest against a decision by the FA Cup Committee (FACC) to have their MTN FA Cup round of 32 match played in Tumu as originally balloted.
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As we have observed, the latest call by the Kotoko management followed hard on the heels of a similar decision by the club asking Coach David Duncan to step aside for a while due to the club’s spate of poor results in the ongoing Premier League.
Just like the Duncan saga, Kotoko’s request for a change of venue for their match against Tumu-based Division Two side Real 24 Hours FC stirred a heated debate in the media, resulting in divided opinion on the matter.
Kotoko’s argument was that the grassless Tumu pitch did not meet the criteria as far as club licencing standard for such matches was concerned, hence the need to move the game to a much better pitch at the Wa Stadium, which has already been cleared as home venue for the Premiership side, Wa All Stars, by the Club Licencing Board (CLB).
As expected, some soccer-loving fans empathised with Kotoko for having to travel all the way to Tumu to play on such a hard pitch tomorrow, only to return to Dawu next Wednesday to engage Dreams FC in a league fixture.
In sharp contrast, another school of thought maintained that Kotoko had no case, since Division Two league venues had nothing to do with the club licencing criteria.
Indeed, some went on to cite examples of some previous matches which were played on similar bad pitches in the recent past. In their anger, some fans even went to the extent of saying Kotoko should either honour the match or boycott it entirely.
But matters came to a head when the CLB took a quick decision last Wednesday after the FACC had referred the case to the appropriate quarters for a fair hearing.
According to the CLB’s verdict, which was conveyed to Kotoko in a letter signed by the acting General Secretary of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Isaac Addo, “the (Tumu) park was inspected and approved by the CLB as having met the minimum criteria of a playing field for the match”.
The CLB further indicated that “the park has a secured inner perimeter and, consequently, the match would be played in Tumu as previously announced#.”
But that notwithstanding, Kotoko still feels hard done in by the FA, since tomorrow’s game qualifies for a Category B match per the GFA’s own regulations and, therefore, requires much more attention in terms of security.
In his distraught, a Kotoko official was overheard on radio yesterday saying something to the effect that they had no option but honour the match due to the respect they had for their title sponsor, MTN, which is also the headline sponsor for the FA Cup competition.
It is, therefore, our conjecture that but for the fix Kotoko find themselves in, they would have stretched the matter even further to disturb the competition and, by extention, the entire GFA programme.
Having weighed the pros and cons, we are of the view that Kotoko would have been justified in pursuing the matter to its logical conclusion, especially when Division Two clubs do not particularly need clearance from the CLB for their matches.
Going forward, we urge the FACC, the CLB and, for that matter, the GFA, to take a cue from this test case and streamline things to avoid a future recurrence.
We congratulate Kotoko on agreeing to honour the match in Tumu which, we are told, is the home of Kotoko and Ghana legend, Baba Yara.