A private legal practitioner has taken exception to the decision by Kumasi Asante Kotoko to suspend all football-related activities until further notice.
Alhaji Sherif Abdulai, who is also an inspector of police, said that decision should not be entertained let alone made to affect the calendar of the 2024/25 Ghana Premier League.
Management of Asante Kotoko on Tuesday announced a decision to indefinitely suspend all football-related activities following the stabbing to death of a fan after the 1-0 away loss to Nsoatreman FC on Matchday 19.
“In the meantime, management has decided to suspend all activities relating to football on the pitch until further investigations into the matter,” a statement announcing the decision said.
Speaking on Onua TV‘s Agoro Fie on Tuesday, February 4, Alhaji Sherif Abdulai Esq. insisted that the decision “is absolutely not the way to go because when you operate in an environment where rules and regulations have been set, for example, already the players involved in the brawl having been sanctioned, the GFA itself suspending the league, you are pulling out to where?”
“We don’t have to entertain that,” he added.
He said the decision may be the sole prerogative of the club but “the league should not be suspended in any way because players are on salary and we have to renegotiate their contracts”.
“So, if the case is not over, there will be no football in this country?”
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) on Monday postponed all Week 20 games, assuring of wide consultations with stakeholders on the way forward.
The GFA announced a meeting with club owners and supporter groups in the course of the week to take a firm decision on the way forward.
Management of Asante Kotoko has assured of cooperation with the nation’s sport-governing body to make the moment a turning point for Ghana football.
“It is time to end the cycle of violence, hooliganism, and lawlessness that threatens the integrity of our game.”