Ghalca Counts the Highs And Lows

...of Money Spinning Competition

The Ghana League Clubs Association is counting its benefits and losses, almost three weeks after getting their ?500 million LG Top 4 tournament rolling.

With full stadiums, thrilling football and remarkable reviews so far, the general consensus is that GHALCA has done a relatively good job so far.

GHALCA's administrative manager, Cudjoe Fianoo, is one of the many who is pleased by the way the competition has gone so far. He says that after days spent convincing sponsors that the LG top 4 is worth sponsoring, it is good to see it progress well.

But Fianoo knows too that there have been problems with the competition too. It started with the war for space at the front of Asante Kotoko's jersey which Spacefon won against major tournament sponsor, LG, to the anger of GHALCA.

The biggest problem, though, has been with the distribution of broadcasting rights for the tournament. For those who have expressed disgust at the crippling failure of clubs to make the most of television in revenue generation, GHALCA's decision to cash in on the big tournament was smart thinking.

As a result, it is only Ghana Television that has been granted the rights to screen the matches in any way. They have access to live games and retain exclusive rights for highlights too. In addition, it is only the Ghana Broadcasting Cooperation that has the rights to run live commentary on the game.

With the four best teams in the country going at each other week in and week out, the state-owned broadcasting giants are reaping the benefits of their exclusive rights fairly well. It has left the other media houses fuming and incredibly short on quality during the traditional Monday evening highlights shows. TV 3 Network and Metro TV have been forced to improvise, unable as they often are, to rebroadcast scenes from the weekend's best sports actions as their slogans say.

Worse for TV 3 for instance, as Chronicle gathers, is the threat of legal action after they screened highlights of the opening round of matches. Adom FM has already been slapped with a court suit for running live commentary.

GHALCA's heavy handed style has caused quite some discontent among broadcasters especially after they relied heavily on just the state-owned institutions to publicize and popularize the tournament. That the distribution of the rights was not done on a bidding basis has added to the pain.

Fianoo admits some of the concerns are justified. "It's like a baby learning how to walk. This is the first time a tournament in Ghana has taken this dimension so there are bound to be mistakes. I must admit we've not been fair to some broadcasting houses. We didn't level the ground in the distribution of the rights".

Fiano's other problem with the competition so far has something to do with television. Hearts of Oak's decision to report to the Kumasi Stadium late for their 0-2 loss to Asante Kotoko last Sunday did not go down well with Ghalca.

"We are organizing a tournament with live games which means time is vital. If teams report to stadiums late, it helps no one", Fiano said.

Tommorow when the second round of the competition starts, Fiano hopes the various teams would show more commitment to time. For Hearts of Oak fans too, they would demand a performance far better than the one their players put up against Kumasi Asante Kotoko in Kumasi.

Hearts who trail Kotoko by three points take on Liberty and Kotoko play Olympics on Sunday. Another slip up could effectively kill Hearts hopes of winning the competition.