Urgent hunt for hooligans in GT Premier league

Accra, July 22, GNA - Mr O. B. Amoah, a Deputy Minister of Education and Sports, has asked the security agencies to urgently hunt for a syndicate of hooligans which are bent on disrupting the GT Premier League and deal ruthlessly with members in order to bring sanity into the game.

He said the ministry had observed with grief the recent spate of attacks on match officials and journalists by "these hooligans which bring to mind the chilling echoes of the Accra Sports Stadium May 9 disaster and this must be nipped in the bud."

The deputy minister mentioned in particular the Hearts-King Faisal clash at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium, Kotoko-Real Sportive encounter at the Tema Park and the Hearts of Lions -King Faisal match in which fans pelted officials with missiles and physically manhandled them. He said in as much as he commends the Professional League Board (PLB) for sanctioning offending clubs, the fight against hooliganism would be fruitless unless the perpetrators of the "indecent acts" were brought to book.

Mr Amoah said the security agencies must as a matter of urgency make good use of the various security cameras at the various stadia and with the support of club officials, zero in on the bad nuts and deal with them in the accordance with the law.

"We must not wait until another May 9 disaster hits us. That will be too bad for the nation and an indictment on those of us in authority," he told the GNA Sports in an interview. Mr Amoah called for collaboration between club officials "who most of the time shield these perpetrators", the Ghana Football Association and the security agencies to help weed out "the undesired characters from our beautiful game".

"Our security men must prove to us as a nation that they have the capacity to deal with such situations before Ghana gets ready to host the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations."

The Deputy Minister observed that apart from Hearts-Kotoko matches, others matches were not given the needed security cover they deserved hence putting the life of officiating officials and visiting clubs in danger.

He said there was the need for security to be beefed up at all league centres to enable the game to be played in an atmosphere free of intimidation and violence.