Kaladan crisis plunges League Board into emergency meeting

Accra, Nov 7, GNA - The crisis that engulfed the Kaladan Park in a premiership duel involving Real Tamale United and Kumasi Asante Kotoko last Sunday has compelled the Professional League Board (PLB) to go into an emergency meeting.

The meeting, which is at the instance of Mr. Welbeck Abrah-Appiah, Chairman of PLB, aims at deliberating on the crisis that made the penultimate game to end abruptly when some supporters were said to have invaded the field in an apparent protest of what they termed as bias officiating.

"I have called for an emergency meeting purposely to examine yesterday's incident and we hope to take a decision when we meet later today," the Chairman told the GNA Sports in Accra on Monday.

The meeting according to him would decide on whether to refer the case to the Disciplinary Committee (DC) depending largely on the report of the match officials, which is tied to 48 hours after every Premier league match.

"The meeting is solely to deliberate on the unfortunate case and if we do not get the report today, we will be compelled to converge again tomorrow when I hope the report will have been ready", the Chairman added.

In no mood to prejudice the meeting's outcome, the PLB boss said "the implications of such unacceptable actions are spelt out in the rules and regulations and one can be assured that the needed sanctions will be strictly applied".

RTU risk heavier sanctions than stated in the rules and regulations according to Mr. Abra-Appiah who said there is always a tendency of exceeding the sanctions spelt out in the regulatory book depending on the gravity of the offence.

He described the supporters' action as barbaric and wondered why RTU; a beneficiary of a similar action that occurred at the Nkawkaw Park in a game against Okwawu United last season could be that ruthless. Okwawu, had their relegation blues deepened last season when six points were deducted from their build up after their fans went crazy in a game against RTU and attacked everything in sight in a perceptible protest.

In looking for solutions for the hooliganism that is fast creeping to the fibre of the premiership, Mr. Abra-Appiah said "I felt ashamed, sad and surprised by their action but thankfully it strengthened my resolve to clamour for teams to play in an empty stadium as part of future sanctions".

Mr Abra-Appiah said even though he reckons a better stadium remains a crucial tool towards the elimination of such occurrences, he insists prosecuting offenders is a sure way of dealing with such a canker.