|
 Kotoko
against 20-team league
By: Jerome Otchere, Kumasi
Asante Kotoko will not support the
proposed 20-team league when it comes up for discussion and
indeed voting at the Ghana Football Association’s August 18
Emergency Congress in Accra.
FA and International Relations
Manager of the club, Kwame Baah-Nuakoh has told Kotoko Express
in an interview that there are no tangible reasons to do so.
“We have no tangible reasons to
support the proposed 20-team league. We are therefore not for
it” he stated.
The 20-team league idea was
proposed by the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, E. T.
Mensah, a couple of weeks back and his proposal has since
attracted huge media debate across the country with most
football enthusiasts and authoritative voices on the game,
sharing varying views on why it should either be supported or
rejected.
According to Kwame Baah-Nuakoh,
the thinking that when endorsed, the 20-team league would lead
to a “fairer geographical representation and therefore minimise
it being skewd in favour or against some regions” does not hold
water and wondered why regional balance should be an issue of
association football which insists clubs must be promoted purely
on merit.
Instead, Kwame has recommended
that the resources which would be used for the 20-team league
should be diverted towards the development of youth football.
The FA and International Relations
Manager of Kotoko consequently indicated that the club would
however support the organisation of the reserve league.
“We will support that one but even
then we think it should not be on national basis. It should be
split into a Northern and Southern zonal reserves league. If not
the cost involve in taking two teams on board when for instance
a team from say Accra travels up north for a league match will
be too much to bear and our clubs do not even have the resources
to do that”.
“The reserve league is good. It
will help the development of youth football. However, we think
it should be split into Northern and Southern Zones so that the
reserve teams of clubs like Kotoko and those in the Brong Ahafo
and Northern Regions will be in the Northern Zone with the rest
down south taking the Southern Zone. We should go back to the
original proposal that talks about a split” he argued. |
