Hearts, Kotoko set for boardroom showdown

Ghana football is set for a massive showdown and could turn the game on its head with the country’s two biggest club – Hearts and Kotoko set to battle it out in the boardroom over eligibility banter that has rocked the two giants.

Hearts filed a protest against their sworn-rivals on Tuesday for fielding an ineligible player, Obed Owusu, during their Super Clash last week.

The Accra-based side claim they have incontrovertible evidence that the former Berekum Chelsea striker had picked four accumulated yellow cards prior to his involvement in the 2-1 defeat at the Accra sports stadium.

Among the reliefs the club is seeking is for the disciplinary committee of the Ghana FA to declare the Porcupine Warriors losers of the game and officials of the former African champions are bent on seeing it through.

“We filed a protest against Kotoko on Tuesday. We had seven working ways and that ends today and so we have filed the necessary documents,” newly-appointed Hearts spokesman Opare Addo told Accra-based Joy FM.

“We believe we have a good case against them and we’ll have to test the law.”

He continued on Kumasi-based Metro FM: “Obed Owusu was on 4 yellow cards ahead of our game against them in Accra.

“The 4 matches in question are Aduana versus Kotoko on match day 1, Ashgold versus Kotoko on match day 7, Kotoko versus Aduana in the FA Cup and Kotoko versus Ashgold on match day 24.

“To serve as a good precedence, we will file a protest to test the law because we believe Kotoko have gone contrary to the rules governing the league, by using a player who had accumulated 4 yellow cards prior to our match against them.

“We want a proper interpretation of the statutes of GFA because it states a player should serve one match suspension after 3 yellow cards, which means Obed Owusu shouldn’t have played against us.”

But Kotoko have responded in equal measure and rubbished their claims, labeling the threat from their arch-rivals as a ‘desperate’ attempt to save their sinking boat, while urging calm among their teeming supporters.

“We are told that, the relegation threatened Hearts of Oak, perhaps out of desperation, are in the process of filing a protest against Kotoko as a result,” part of the club statement read.

“We even understand that, Ashgold have even taken the lead. While we initially did not want to respond to this, especially in the media because of its inherent tendency to derail our focus, we are compelled to come out to urge our loyal supporters to ignore any talk about the so-called protest. Kotoko have done no wrong to warrant points-deduction.”

“The club has at all times played by the rules of the game. We have not and did not field an unqualified player anywhere. We reiterate the appeal to our supporters to be calm.

The two clubs are set for one of the most fascinating and intricate disciplinary cases in recent times and set to hog the headlines for many weeks.

Hearts are battling to stay afloat after a poor campaign this term, with their rivals seemingly safe from being demoted after a doggy run.