Concerted effort needed to remedy poor patronage of local league – Kudjoe Fianoo

Chairman of the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) Mr Kudjoe Fianoo has bemoaned the poor attendance recorded for the 2022/23 BetPawa Premier League.

In view of this, he highlighted the need to have a concerted effort by stakeholders of the game in Ghana to resolve the matter.

Ghana’s top tier league, the Ghana Premier League (GPL), is witnessing poor patronage as the number of fans who attend matches keep dwindling, a development that is rendering the local clubs financially handicapped.

One interesting spectacle of football at the stadium is, the fans. Without them, the game will not interesting, as only 22 players will be running around with coaches and other technical members dishing out instructions at them.

Aside from fans showing support for teams by cheering them on, clubs stand to make money from gate proceeds which can be used to manage the clubs and pay players.

Unfortunately, in Ghana, fan attendance at the various stadia have been quite poor and consistently dwindled in the last few seasons.

The Former Ashanti Gold CEO bemoans the situation where, at some points, the gates get opened for free entry even when the top teams; Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak, play each other. He cited the last time the two played each other in a cup match.

Speaking to Class Sports on the Game Plan radio programme on Class 91.3 FM, Saturday, January 7, 2023, he said: “The last President’s Cup that we played between Hearts and Kotoko, even though there were a lot of challenges; people were not sure the match will be played in the evening [and] how safe they will be… At a point in time, a Hearts-Kotoko match was a Hearts-Kotoko match. That was the top-most bill when it came to Ghana football.”

Mr. Fianoo further added: “At a point in time, we had to open the gates for free. It is something that we have to engage ourselves [in]; there should be a concerted effort to resolve this matter. It is really worrying.”

Mr. Fianoo called on the media to play a role in getting the fans to go and watch the games, pleading with them to try their best in solving the problem.

“In this matter, I will plead with the media to play a pivotal role in getting our people back to the stadium, because it is really worrying," he bemoaned. "If you look at the data, it is really worrying.”

According to reports, Accra Hearts of Oak pocketed just GHS417 last weekend when they hosted Tamale City for match day 11 of the 2022/23 premier league.

Elsewhere at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, only 3009 tickets were believed to have been sold when Kumasi Asante Kotoko played Great Olympics on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, led by Hon Mustapha Ussif, on Wednesday, January 11, said it had held a meeting with the GHALCA leadership to deliberate on strategies to attract fans to domestic league matches.

In furtherance of the meeting with the GHALCA leadership, the ministry says that consultations will go on with the Ghana Football Association, the National Sports Authority, and supporters to put thoughts together to address the issue of poor fan attendance.