Sylvester Mensah: “GFA must revise kick-off time for GPL matches”

Former Premier League Board Chairman Sylvester Mensah has proposed that the Ghana FA revises the kick-off time for domestic top flight matches to ensure fans don’t have to choose foreign league matches over local league games during weekends.

The patronage of the Ghana Premier League has experienced a massive decline with pundits blaming the phenomenon on a number of reasons including the live telecast of foreign league matches on local free-to-air TV stations and at drinking bars.

On January 3rd this year, the FA’s spokesperson Ibrahim Sannie Darra insisted that the best way to get fans to follow the local league is for Parliament to introduce a new law to prohibit the live telecast of foreign league matches on local free-to-air TV stations.

But, Sylvester Mensah is against Sannie Darra’s proposal. Instead, he wants the traditional 3.00pm kick-off time for Ghana Premier League matches on the weekends to be revised.

“Sannie can’t say the foreign leagues should be scrapped from our TVs because it would affect the daily bread of some people. If we want to generate interest in the local league, then we can’t scrap the beaming of foreign league matches on TV. Instead, let’s make our game attractive and review the time for our matches even if it means playing the games early,” Mr. Mensah told UTV.