GHALCA to the aid of division one clubs

The Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) has pledged to come to the aid of cash strapped division one clubs participating in this year's novelty to league following pleas made to them by the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

Addressing the annual congress of the association in Accra on Tuesday, J.Y Appiah, Chairman of GHALCA, said the only thing hindering the release of the funds is how much to be given each club. He said the issue would soon be sorted out with the GFA to enable the clubs access the funds.

He said before the start of the season, the GFA management committee made an appeal to Ghalca to help alleviate the burden on the clubs by paying the referee and match commissioners in order for the clubs to use the limited gate proceeds on their teams.

Appiah said they are aware that the GFA has already paid 80 million cedis as fees for the referees and the match commissioners. "We intend giving ours to the clubs and in this direction we have already ordered the Professional League Board (PLB) to make available the clubs our share of the gate proceeds from the last year's premier league."

He said the association last year recorded very low inflow of cash from one of its traditional sources of funding, which is the transfer of player outside the country.

Appiah attributed the shortfall to a new system under which clubs claim to loans their players to foreign clubs when in fact such players were transferred. He asked teams adopting this negative attitude to remember that they are depriving the nation off funds for the development of the game.

Appiah said last year the Ghalca assisted premier league clubs by giving each of them 20 million cedis to help them prepare for the just ended season. He said the association also responded to an approach by the PLB to erect an inner perimeter fence for the Koforidua stadium at a cost of ?60m of which they have been able to recovered only ?5m.

He assured congress that the National Sports Council, custodians of the facility, has promised to pay the balance in full after receiving their budgetary allocation for this year. He warned premier league sides to desist from ticket deals since such bad practises erode the confidence reposed in the "home team take all" policy saying this would not be tolerated in the coming season.

Appiah congratulated the management, technical staff and players of Accra Hearts of Oaks Sporting Club Limited for winning the premier league for the sixth unprecedented time. On Kotoko, he said even though they narrowly failed to win the CAF Cup Winners Cup trophy they did not disgrace the nation.

He expressed the hope that the two giants of Ghana soccer with their rich experience on the continental scene would bring "our honour-starved nation" something to cheer about in the coming season.