Ghana clubs pulled out of leagues
Reuters - Wednesday 08 December 2010, 18:07
ACCRA - The Ghana League Clubs Association
(GHALCA) voted on Wednesday to pull its members out of all
national leagues after a police raid on the local FA to seek
information on sponsorship deals, the FA said.
It quoted GHALCA chairman Emmanuel Adotey on its website as
saying the confiscation by police of FA computer equipment and
files meant that various decisions affecting the running of the
leagues could no longer be administered.
"The confiscation of equipments and files has necessitated
their pulling out since various decisions including disciplinary
cannot be confirmed and communicated to all affected clubs and
players," it quoted Adotey as saying.
The decision means clubs will not be involved in the Glo
Premier League, Division One, Two and Three football leagues until
further notice.
Earlier, football's governing body FIFA said it was monitoring
events in Ghana after plain-clothed officers from the country's
Economic and Organised Crime Unit (EOCU) removed nine computers
and took the mobile phones of some staff in Tuesday's raid.
FIFA does not tolerate government interference in football and
in October it briefly suspended Nigeria following court action
against directors of the federation.
Ghana reached this year's World Cup quarter-finals, losing a
penalty shootout to Uruguay, after being denied what would have
been a winning goal at the end of extra-time when opposing
forward Luis Suarez handled the ball on the line.
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has not given reasons
for the raid but noted authorities had two months ago requested
information on all sponsorship contracts signed by the GFA.
It added that it had sought extra time to gather the
documents but had not received a response.
Ghana's World Cup success means it may now experience the
same problems as other African football nations such as Cameroon
or Nigeria, with the arrival of private sponsors creating
friction with the government.