Match Commissioner calls for police retraining

Mr. Lee Yankey, Western Region Chairman of Match Commissioners' Association, at the weekend called on Ghana Police Service to retrain its personnel on crowd control and handling of hooligans at the various sports stadia.

Mr Yankey told the GNA that the decision by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to ban guns and tear gas at the stadia as "unfortunate" and said "replacing guns with truncheons would endanger the lives of referees, match commissioners and spectators".

He explained that some spectators carry cutlasses, truncheons, bottles and other offensive weapons to the stadia and threaten match officials with severe punishment should their teams lose.

Mr Yankey suggested that security should be strengthened at stadia gates to prevent weapons from finding their ways into the sports stadium.

He said metal detectors; electric truncheons, water guns shields, helmets and other modern riot control gadgets should be provided to safeguard life and property.

"We should not also allow the incident of May 9th to reoccur by depriving the security personnel all forms of protection." he added Mr Yankey advised referees to be bold, fair and firm and said any bias decision could disrupt games and create panic and confusion among spectators.