Club chairman blames low standard of football on corruption

Accra, July 16 - GNA - Captain Victus Amenyedor (RTD) proprietor of erstwhile Volta Warriors Football Club, a Division One League (DOL) club said the falling standard of Ghana soccer could be traced to the corrupt practices of football administrators who influence match officials to decide matches in their favour.

Making his contribution at an open forum on football organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Council at the Hospitality Centre of the Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday, the retired army officer said it is common knowledge that clubs win matches through the payment of inducement fees to match officials.

"Clubs win matches not because they are good but because they have the means to influence match officials and until the trend is stopped our football will continue to suffer," he said.

Captain Amenyedor also blamed the decline in the performance of the Black Stars on the lack of a stable team, resulting in the use of too many players over a short period of time.

He said the team keeps changing because club administrators influence the national team coaches to invite players of their teams into the national teams regardless of their class and because the coaches are offered gifts and promises they comply with the directives of the club managers.

The retired soldier said in some cases the pressure comes from members of the Ghana Football Association and agents and managers of players who warm the benches in Europe and their only concern is to expose the players with the view to selling them for profit and not for their contributions to the output of the national team.

He said he was aware that sometimes, even parents give money to coaches to invite their children into the national teams and worse of all, "some coaches collect money from players before fielding them." Captain Amenyedor advised club managers who indulge in "such corrupt practices and turn round to blame others" to desist from such acts as they would only contribute to the decline of Ghana football. He said the league must be fairly competed so that a worthy winner emerges and those who find themselves in the claws of relegation would not complain while our goalkings are able to score goals when they play in other leagues.