Promote your local game and stop publicizing foreign leagues -PSL Manager tells Ghanaian media

The Senior Manager of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) in South Africa, Luxolo September has spoken against the promotion of foreign football by the Ghanaian media at the expense of their local football.

The penetration and consumption of top European leagues such as the English Premier League, Spanish La-Liga, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga and the French League in Ghana has been on the rise for the past decade while the consumption of the Ghana Premier League and other local leagues have been on a total decline within the same period.

Though some people have attributed the decline of patronage of the Ghana Premier League to the administrative lapses of the clubs, GFA and lack of quality players in the country, another school of thought continues to blame the media for their everyday promotion of the European leagues.

According to Luxolo who has waded in on the growing concern on the continent, the South African league which is now considered as one of the best leagues on the continent was facing the same problem till the media decided to promote the local league and not that of any rival brand.

In an interview with Takoradi based Skyy Power 93.3 FM, he advised the Ghanaian media to emulate the steps taken by the South African media to lift the lost image of the Ghana Premier League.

“I think people must do what is good for their own country. Ghanaians must decide what’s good for their football. We are in a sad state whereby Africans are watching English Premier League and they’re killing their league”.

“In South Africa, the most popular league is the local league, not Manchester United, Chelsea or whatever and that was made possible by the media. This is what we need in Africa, Africans must wake up…we have to be proud of what we have”, he stated.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Football Association has started the process in making the Ghana Premier league an autonomous one as it is being practised in South Africa.