The Ghana Football Association has confirmed the addendum for its Extra Ordinary Congress session scheduled for August 18, 2010.
The meeting at the FA’s conference room is in pursuant to Article 23.3 of the GFA Statutes as members would deliberate on the proposed amendments and discuss other business.
Proposed Amendments to the GFA Rules and Regulations
Article 7 – Football Season
1. The football season cover a period of ten months. The GFA Executive Committee shall fix the dates for the commencement of the season subject to the approval of Congress. The GFA Executive Committee may for good cause extend or shorten the period, and shall have the power to suspend the league temporally or abridge it.
Reason: Amended to support the current practice.
2. There shall be a close season for a period of one calendar month which shall be determined by the Executive Committee, save where Congress makes an order to the contrary or to support competitive organized competitions by FIFA, CAF, WAFU.
Reason: To confirm to the actual practice
Article 8 – Premier League
1. The Premier Division League shall be open to a maximum of twenty (20) clubs which shall register with the Premier League Board (PLB) to participate in the league.
Reason: To support the increase of Premier clubs from sixteen (16) to twenty (20) clubs
2(i) At the end of the season, the last four (4) clubs on the completed Premier League table shall be automatically demoted to Division One League (DOL) whilst the champion clubs from each of the four zones shall be promoted to the Premier League.
Reason: To support the demotion and promotion of four (4) clubs from Premier and Division One League
(ii) The composition of the zones and sub-zones shall be determined by the Executive Committee taking into account;
- Level of infrastructure development within the zones; in facilitating easy and safe transportation of teams.
*The number of clubs to be relegated from each zone shall be determined by the promotion and relegation with respect to the Premier League as they affect the respective zones. Each zone shall comprise a maximum of 16 clubs, notwithstanding the extent of demotion and promotion within the Premier League. In the event of an extraordinary occurrence, the Executive Committee shall review and determine the number of clubs that shall be eligible to play in any zone so affected.
- Regional spread of clubs participating in the Premier League - Opportunity for under represented regions to develop the game - Promotion of grassroots football development - Promotion of ethnic cohesion
Reason: To provide guidelines to assist the Executive Committee in the determination of zones.
THE RESERVE PREMIER LEAGUE
Congress took a decision to establish an age category Premier Reserve League to be played concurrently with the Regular Premier League. The competition is open to youth players under the age of twenty (20) years.
The rationale behind the running of the reserve league is to give opportunity for clubs to develop young players who normally might not command first team place in the Regular League.
The proposed amendments to the Football Regulations of the FA are therefore to give effect to the decision of congress.
Article 4 - Approved Competitions and Matches
The approved Competitions and matches in which clubs must participate include:
a) Should read : Premier Regular and Reserve League
Article 8 - PREMIER LEAGUE
I. The title to be amended as follows:
“Premier Regular and Reserve League
ii. Add to Sub-section 1. of Article 8
a) Every registered Premier League Club shall register not more that thirty (30) regular players and maintain a pool of not more that twenty (20) players to be designated as reserve players who will participate in a Separate Premier reserve league, but can also feature in the Regular Premier League.
b) A Premier Reserve League player shall not be more than twenty (20) years old in the year of the respective competition
c) A Premier League Club may however use a maximum of three (3) players who are more than 20 years for the reserve league matches.
d) The fixtures for the reserve league shall be exactly as provided for the regular premier league by the PLB
iii. Add to sub-section 3 of Article 8 the following in respect to the Premier Reserve League
i) The rankings of the Premier Reserve League shall not affect demotions and promotions with respect to the Premier Regular League table
ii) The participation of the Premier Reserve Team in subsequent premier league competitions shall depend on the position and status of the Club on the Regular League table.
iii) For the avoidance of doubt, a Premier Reserve Team is automatically relegated or demoted together with its premier regular team.
iv) For the avoidance of doubt, newly promoted teams shall be required to register premier reserve players and participate in the premier reserve league.
ARTICLE 17 - STRIP
Amend Article 17 - 1(a) as follows:
1(a) each club shall register a home and away strip distinct from each other on forms to be supplied by the GFA. “The strip for both the premier reserve and regular teams shall be identical”. A team shall appear in its home strip when playing at home.
ARTICLE 23 - KICK-OFF
Add the word Regular to Article 23 - Subsection a)
a) Matches of the Premier Regular Division and Division One clubs shall kick off at 3.00 p.m. and teams shall report to the Match Officials in the dressing rooms or such laces as may be determined by the Match Officials at least sixty (60) minutes before kick-off time.
Amend Article 23 Sub-section (d) as follows:
d) The kick-off time for the Premier Reserve Division match shall be 1.00p.m. with a duration of 40 minutes each half. Any match preceding the Premier Regular Division shall cease at 2.45 p.m. prompt.
ARTICLE 29 - UNQUALIFIED PLAYER
1. An unqualified player is :
a) A player who has not been duly registered in accordance with the provisions of, Article 26(2) (a) and (b), Article (27) and Article (28).
A player is considered to be unqualified unless his registration complies with Art. 28. The original definition of an unqualified inadvertently omitted this key component.
Article 34 - Forfeiture of Matches
Where it fails to report for or fails to honour a match without just cause. In addition to forfeiture of points the Team shall pay a fine of five thousand Ghana Cedis GH¢ 5,000.00;
The rationale is to create a disincentive for clubs that may willfully refuse to honour Premier Reserve League matches.
Proposed Amendments to General and Special Regulations for Division One League (DOL)
*The Division One League shall be open to a maximum of 64 clubs with effect from the 2010/2011 League Season divided into four (4) zones as follows
(1) Zone 1 - Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions Zone 1A - Upper East and Upper West Zone 1B - Northern Region
(2) Zone 2 - Brong Ahafo and Ashanti Regions Zone 2A - Brong Ahafo Region Zone 2B - Ashanti Region
(3) Zone 3 - Western and Central Regions Zone 3A - Western Region Zone 3B - Central Region
(4) Zone 4 - Eastern, Greater Accra and Volta Regions Zone 4A - Greater Accra Region Zone 4B - Eastern and Volta Regions
* At the end of the season, the last four (4) clubs on the completed Premier League table shall automatically be demoted to the Division One League whilst the champion clubs from each of the four (4) zones shall be promoted to the Premier League.
Transitional Arrangement:
To effect the above proposals we suggest the following operational arrangements
- Congress should set up a body of two made up of representatives each from the PLB and DOLB under the Chairmanship of a Member of the Executive Committee to oversee the implementation
- The three relegated teams should be made to play with the three second placed teams in the just ended Division One to determine the Premier League in the upcoming season. This can take place over three match days spanning one week.
- The six teams can be split into two groups of three each to engage in an all play all competition and the top two in each group can then qualify to the Premier League.
- Regional play offs should be organized as appropriate amongst relegated Division One teams and Division Two teams were runners up in their respective competition for promotion to the four new Division One Zones.
It is believed that this new arrangement when endorsed by Congress will result in the following amongst others:
- It will promote nationwide talent identification and grassroot football development
- It will ensure a fairer geographical representation and minimize skewness in favour of or against some regions
- It will minimize the cost of travelling especially for the Division One teams and other lower divisions
- Reduces the latent threat of evolving ethnocentric tendencies
- Provide broader and more sustained mileage for sponsors