Form new League system - Dr Arthur

Accra, Oct. 3, GNA - Dr. Albert Arthur, a former management member of Accra Great Olympics Football Club has proposed the formation of a Professional Soccer Council (PSC) made up of major constituent bodies to be tasked with the responsibility of running the country's Premier League.

He said the formation of the council would bring to an end the on-going impasse between the Club Chairmen, the Professional League Board (PLB) and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) as to which of them could best run the league.

Speaking to the GNA Sports in an interview, Dr Arthur suggested that the body should be composed of members from the Ghana League Clubs Association, (GHALCA) the Referees Association of Ghana (RAG) as the well as the various Club Chairmen, with the GFA playing a supervisory role.

Justifying the composition of the Council, Dr Arthur said, "a body like RAG has been sidelined for too long and it's about time they are included in the running of the league".

Dr Arthur added that formation of the PSC would also ensure that all parties, which, have stakes in the league will be fairly represented to ensure efficiency and restore the confidence of the Clubs in the system.

Explaining further, Dr Arthur said the Disciplinary, Appeal and Review Committees should also be strengthened with competent and high profile lawyers or professionals to enhance delivery of justice. Dr Arthur, however, added that the Review Committee should be preserved for the FA as the last avenue for seeking redress.

According Dr Arthur such a measure will curtail the increasing number of court cases in the league since disputes would be handled by competent persons, adding that it will also prevent the FA from playing an influential role in the running of the league and allow to rather concentrate on the management of the national teams. Dr. Arthur said the formation of the PSC would also see to the implementation of proposals made by a three-member Committee which visited South Africa four years ago to under-study the country's league system.

He said the proposals of the Committee have been on the drawing board for too long and must be implemented within the shortest possible time.

Touching on the on-going impasse on the league, Dr Arthur said the recent quest by Club Chairmen to take over administration of the league is due to the inability of the PLB to run the league professionally. He said the clubs seem to have lost confidence in the PLB since it has not been able to deal swiftly with the various issues that have bedevilled the league.

Dr Arthur said the inability of the PLB to deal swiftly with the various protests, counter protests and player status have been the major cause of the numerous problems being encountered in the premiership. The former management member who once represented the Club at GHALCA also noted that the association has outlived its usefulness. He said he shares the view that GHALCA is no longer useful as it used to be hence the need to dissolve it, adding that the Association has also not handled its welfare role for the clubs effectively.