Intellectuals protest against winners of Middle league

Cape Coast, Feb.7, GNA - The management of Winneba Soccer Intellectuals on Friday protested against the declaration of Ofaakor Great Odupon as winners of the Central Region Division Two (Zone Two) promotional super zonals soccer tournament.

In a petition signed by Mr George Duncan, Chairman of the club to the Regional Football Association, he expressed dismay that Odupon were quickly declared winners.

He said that after their crucial match with Odupon, which ended goalless on Friday, Odupon were surprisingly declared winners without invoking the penalty kick rule, in contravention of the rules governing the league.

Mr Duncan said the regulations governing the eighth edition of the league states that "where a match in group stages ends in a draw, the teams shall go straight into the penalty shoot out, the results of which shall be set aside".

The regulations, the petition said, also states that the result of the penalty shoot-out shall only be applied where there is a tie by two or three of the clubs, to determine the winner of the group.

Intellectuals are therefore appealing to the CRFA to invoke the penalty shoot-out to determine the winner to avoid any court action. Mr Mathew Doe, the Regional FA Chairman told the GNA Sports that the decision was taken by the Association so that in the case where at the end of the tournament, two or three clubs tied up with the same number of points and goals in favour, the whole tournament would not go into a round robin.

He explained that at the close of the league, Great Odupon had seven (7) points with five (5) goals in their favour while Soccer Intellectuals had 7 (seven) points with 3 (three) goals in their favour and that indicated a clear goals difference in favour of Odupon and therefore there was no need for the penalty shoot-out.