Teams involved in vandalism in Ghana football should be deducted points - Fred Pappoe opines

Former vice president of the Ghana Football Association(GFA), Fred Pappoe has asserted that point deduction should be considered as a punitive measure to avert vandalism and hooliganism in Ghana football at congress.

The veteran football administrator said that such uncouth act has no place in Ghana football and hampers the progress of the league and football in the nation hence, the need to implement stiffer sanctions to deter teams from indulging in the act.

His comment comes at the back of a clash between Aduana stars and Tamale City supporters in Dormaa which led to the vandalization of Tamale City team bus.

Speaking exclusively to Univers Sports on the sports express show on April 8, 2023, Fred Pappoe condemned the act and called on football administrators and authorities to take take drastic measures to halt the menace of vandalism in football.

“Hooliganism and vandalism in our league is very detestable. It is something that all right thinking Ghanaians should frown upon and we must kick against that. If you look at the stage where the league is getting to we should be ready for these kind of incidents at the least cost you will see people choosing to misbehave and show poor sportsmanship.

"Now in the particular case of Aduana and Tamale City it is reported in the media as a reprisal attack or act of vengeance with respect to Aduana Stars because of some act purported to have been meted out to Aduana supporters when they went to Tamale sometime ago. Whatever the case I don’t think there is any place in our league for this kind of act and we should put a strong foot down to stem it out in our league irrespective of who are the perpetrators.

“What I think is that it appears as if the sanctions are not deterrent enough so you find clubs engaging in that and doing act which are quite inimical to the game of football. Maybe is about time congress take a second look at the sanctions regime and put in place more appropriate sanctions so that clubs who will be engaging in that will think twice before they do it. Usually is

not the people who are at the helm of affairs at the club who engage in this but their fans so we must actually review the sanctions regime and that can only be done at congress", Pappoe told Univers Sports.

The Ex GFA vice president opined that point deduction should be considered by congress as a punitive measure and by so doing hooliganism and vandalism would surely become a thing of the past.

"Let me tell you one thing that clubs fear most in Ghana is the fear of loss of points. Sometime ago there was a very rampant use of unqualified players and those times the sanction was payment of fine or whatever but when the law of loss of points was introduced including loss of accumulated points people started to stop so you’d realize that the issue of deliberate use of

unqualified players is more or less a thing of the past now.

"With respect to issue of vandalism congress could consider the possibility of clubs losing points when those kind of acts occur including accumulated points subject to thorough investigation to lead evidence to the fact that those acts were perpetrated by followers of the particular club. That is a topic that should be considered as an option because if you should ban a team from playing

at their home grounds and you relocate them to another region to play their matches it doesn’t really make much difference. We cannot say we are going to punish Aduana to move from their home base to maybe Nzema it is not usually done", he opined to Univers Sports.

He also intimated that relocation of teams from their usual venues is an option that could be pondered over and re-introduced at congress as part of sanctions meted out to clubs or perpetrators to overcome vandalism in the league. Apart from point deduction the issue of relocation of team during ban at their regular venue should be considered once again so that it becomes more practical and more deterrent.

"let me use my club Olympics as an example, if you ban them from playing in Accra and you send them to Sogakope or cape coast you’ve not done anything because of their own volition. If Accra sports stadium is not available Olympics may choose to play in Sogakope or in Cape Coast  so if you’re using that as a kind of deterrence where it is just across the regional board you have not done

much. Of course you also have to consider the effect on the opposing teams and make sure you don’t inconvenience them but the relocation should be something which will be punitive enough. I think that is the angle we can look at it", he added.

Following the attack on Tamale City Fc by Aduana Stars, the Dormaa based club have been banned from playing at their home grounds thus 'Gyandu Park' in Dormaa and will have to play the rest of their matches at a different match venue.