Kotoko, Aduana to face GFA wrath for playing league game with 10 players each

Asante Kotoko and Aduana Stars will in the coming days be charged by the Ghana Football Association Disciplinary Committee for their decision to play their matchday 11 game in Dormaa with ten players apiece instead of the standard eleven.

According to Ghanaweb's incontrovertible sources at the GFA, the association is incensed by the action and conduct of the two big clubs and deem their behavior as an act which has brought the name of the game into disrepute.

While many football stakeholders have condemned the act, which took place in Dormaa last Wednesday, others maintain it is a matter of morality because both clubs did not really break any rule within the Ghana Football Association Statutes or General Regulations.

However, the GFA is convinced that Article 34 of the Ghana Premier League Regulations, sub-section 6 (d) is likely to cater for the inaction of both clubs, as well as the officiating officials who supervised the act.

Article 34, sub-section 6 (d) of the Ghana Premier League Regulations states that a club, director, official, referee, assistant referee, or player or member “Commits any offensive act not provided for above or make any offensive statement either verbally or in writing or is responsible for any conduct or any matter which is in the opinion of the Association, ungentlemanly, insulting or improper behaviour or likely to bring the game into disrepute”.

The new Ghana Football Association hierarchy led by Kurt Okraku is determined rid the country’s football of any act or conduct that will erode the gains made so far with the #BringBackTheLove campaign.

Background

Last Wednesday, fans of Ghana Premier League were left stunned after the top liner for week 11 produced an unusual scene as Aduana Stars and Asante Kotoko played with 10 players in the first half.

The norm is to have two playing clubs field 11 players at the start of a match. But these two big clubs had different ideas.

Reports from the benches said, before kickoff, that Aduana’s Farouk Adams and Kotoko’s Martin Antwi had sustained knocks and required treatment.

Their treatment seemed to be delaying the start, so referee Alphonso Atiapah decided to get things underway. Per association football rules a team is required to field a minimum of seven players.

Strangely, after receiving treatment, none of the two still came onto the pitch first – a move that is reported to have been borne out of superstition. According to grapevine sources, the superstitious instructions were that the team whose player entered the pitch first would lose.

The teams completed the first half with 10 men each, and the score was goalless. In the second half, the two players finally made their way onto the pitch.

The decision left fans completely shocked.