Appeals Committee Of GFA Exonerates Hearts Of Oak

The Appeals Committee of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has exonerated Accra Hearts of Oak from any wrong doing in the Charles Taylor yellow card issue. It has therefore upheld the decision of the GFA to ban the match commissioner and referee who handled the Hearts-Goldfields second round match.

Kumasi Asante Kotoko filed a protest with the Appeals Committee of the GFA purporting that Charles Taylor attracted a yellow card when Hearts played against Obuasi Goldfields in their 18th week league match increasing his yellow card tally to three. The Hearts player was therefore unqualified to play in the 19th week match in Kumasi but he was allowed to play because the match commissioner’s records did not reflect the incident.

The Appeals Committee upheld that Hearts could not be indicted in the case since it was the duty of the match commissioner and referee to check the status of every player. Instead it was of the opinion that the match officials had conspired to erase Charles Taylor’s name from the match reports. Meanwhile Kotoko has expressed disinterest in pursuing the case any further.