Ghana Football Association President, Kwesi Nyantakyi ushered the start of the General Assembly twelve days ago by saying: "This year’s congress is being held to herald the Association into three different World Cups for the Senior Men, Women U-20 and the Girls U-17."
He also highlighted key issues in the administration of the game in Ghana.
We reproduce the full text of his address to Congress.
ADDRESS TO CONGRESS BY PRESIDENT ON 20TH MAY, 2010
The Hon. Minister Members of the Executive Committee Chairmen, CEOs and Reps of Clubs Representative of other Constituent Bodies Distinguished invited Guests Media Men and Women Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the Executive Committee, the body responsible for convening Congress, I wish to welcome you all to this year’s Congress. I wish to particularly welcome the Minister of Youth and Sports, Hon. Akua Sena Dansua to her first congress of the Ghana Football Association.
This year’s congress is being held to herald the Association into three different World Cups for the Senior Men, Women U-20 and the Girls U-17.
The Premier League
The Congress marks the official close of the 2009/2010 football season. The Premier league came to a successful end with Aduana Stars, one of the debutants winning the championship. Ashantigold came second, with Hearts of Oak and Heart of Lions placing third and fourth respectively.
May I congratulate all the clubs for a good competition and particularly Aduana Stars for emerging champions. At the end of the premier league, Great Olympics, Eleven Wise and Hasaacas place 14th, 15th and 16th respectively. In accordance with the Regulations of the Football Association, they have been relegated to the Division One League. Three new entrants, BA Stars, Ebusua Dwarfs and Mighty Jets emerged champions of their respective Zones and have accordingly been promoted to the premier division.
I wish to congratulate the Premier League Board for a good organisation. There is no doubt more room for improvement. I hope the coming year will witness improvement in every aspect of the organisation of the league.
Effective the 2010/2011 football season, a number of innovations will be seen about the premier league. They may be stated as follows:
• Every Premier League side will be expected to present an Under-20 side for the reserve league which will be organised side –by-side the Premier League.
The Reserve League was discussed and approved at last year’s Congress but the effective date for its commencement was deferred to 2010/2011 football season.
• The Executive Committee has decided that as part of the conditions for participation in the Premier League, every Premier Division club is supposed to either have a training ground of its own or a training ground by which they have the right of access.
• Effective 2010/2011, every Premier Division club will be required to contribute USD5,000 from its share of the Sponsorship amount towards the organisation of the National Juvenile Festival
• All Premier Division clubs will comply with certain medical conditions which include a compulsory medical examination for all of its players, anti doping etc. before the commencement of the league season.
• Curtain raisers will be introduced next season as a boaster to the juvenile competition.
During the season, a number of events happening giving effect to traces of tribalism and ethnocentrism. Sympathies and supporters of Asante Kotoko were alleged to have declared their open support to Ashantigold in their bid to win the league in furtherance of the cause of Asanteman whilst Aduana Stars seemed to have enjoyed the support of the Brong clubs in furtherance of the cause of the BONOS.
The Ghana Football Association condemns such practices in no uncertain terms. We are investigating the allegations and will wish to identify the culprits for sanctioning.
Division One League
The Division One League has been well organised. I wish to congratulate the Division One League Board for a good job done. That notwithstanding, there were still a few incidents of violence at some league centres. The sponsorship from Polytank is applied towards the payment of refereeing fees for the league.
We wish to aggressively market the Division One League to attract more sponsors. The clubs must assist the FA in this regard by conducting themselves well to avoid cases of violence and hooliganism which have recently bedeviled the league.
The Executive Committee is also concerned about the current Zoning and will request the Division One League Board to review the same with the view to making regional representation of clubs in the premier league more pragmatic.
The Second Division
The Second Division Leagues are organised on a regional basis. In my recent tour of the regions, I charged the RFAs to explore the possibility of seeking regional sponsors for their respective league.
The Football Association will assist the RFAs to draw up appropriate proposals for the solicitation of support for the leagues.
The FA will provide the following additional support for the regional leagues:-
i) We shall encourage the formation of regional second division teams to compete in a national competition. The competition will market the best players in the regional second division leagues. It will also be a platform for handlers of our junior national teams to select young players.
ii) The Football Association will underwrite the fees for officiating the Middle League for promotion of clubs to the Division One League.
iii) The Football Association will provide football s to the RFAs for organisation of the Regional Second Division Leagues.
iv) I observed during my recent tour of the regions that, there are un-even numbers for second division clubs across the country, e.g. Brong-Ahafo Region has 90 clubs and the Gt. Accra Region has 60. The Executive Committee has decided to place a ceiling on the number of Second Division Clubs for the regions.
v) I noticed that affiliation and officiating fees vary from region to region. It appears steps must be taken to standardize the fees
The Juvenile Competition
The Juvenile competition is the soul of football. All the leagues rely on the Juvenile Leagues to scout young talents. Since 2005, we have made a number of interventions in support thereof. These include:
i) A coaching course was organised in 2007 to coaches of Juvenile clubs
ii) A sponsorship of GH¢ 200,000 for the 2006 National Colts festival in 2006; a collaboration with Nestles Ghana Limited to support the 2007 National U-15 Festival in Sunyani, and the recent Coca Cola Competition.
iii) The procurement and distribution of 2000 footballs among colts clubs in 2008 and 2010.
iv) The procurement and distribution of football boots among colts clubs in 2010.
In 2010 and beyond the FA will provide further support for the Juvenile league in the following areas:-
(a) We shall procure 3000 footballs for the colts clubs
(b) We shall organise coaching courses for all Juvenile Coaches free of charge
(c) We shall organise the National Juvenile Festival, with or without Sponsors
(d) We will construct a pitch in each region to promote Juvenile football.
(e) All regional and national Juvenile champions will be given footballs, tracksuits and boots.
(f) We have decided to honour five (5) outstanding Colts organisers from each region.
(g) In addition to the honours of being a champion, the Football Association has held discussions with some of our former National Footballers who have agreed to sponsor individual awards at the national Colts Festival. These awards will be institutionalized.
(h) The suggestion by some members of the Regional Juvenile (Colts) Committees to choose their National Executive to steer their affairs would also be considered.
Apart from the various assistance offered the Juvenile competition, its probably high time we reviewed the nature, modalities and regulations for organizing Juvenile competitions in Ghana.
The first issue is how to determine the true ages of children for the age group colts leagues. At one point in time, we adopted height as a means of determining ages of the boys. That system only ensured that short but old players featured for their clubs. Then came the era of the weighing scale with its attendant challenges. After several years of using the SCALE, its short comings are clearly apparent to all.
Women Football
Women’s football will continue to enjoy the support of the Football Association. Last year, we successfully organised the first ever National Women’s League with Fabulous Ladies emerging National Champions.
The Ghana Football Association spent Gh¢98,000 on the organisation of Women’s football. In 2010 we continue by providing football to the women’s clubs.
Coaching
Coaching remains the bedrock of football. Since 2006, we have organised several courses in coaching towards the award of certificates in Basic, Intermediate, Advanced and License C. we also sponsored a number of coaches to train as Licenses ‘A’ and ‘B’ coaches. Ghana was the first African country to organise a course in License ‘C’. in 2010, we began a process of compilation and grading of all course in Ghana. We will organise more coaching courses to meet the deadline for licensing coaches. By December 2011, only licensed and certified coaches will be allowed to coach in Ghana.
Refereeing
Refereeing remains an important component of football. Regular training programmes have been undertaken by the GFA to update and upgrade the skills of referees. During my recent tour of the regions, a suggestion was made to professionalize refereeing. We are currently reviewing the modalities for that. We are also considering proposals for the reduction of referees. By next season, we shall reduce the number of premier division referees as a way of enhancing their performances and exacting discipline among them.
We still hear rumours of corrupt practices among referees and club officials. Once again, I wish to advise all referees and club officials to desist from these alleged corrupt practices.
The Executive Committee expressed grave concern about this trend. The following measures have accordingly been proposed to curb the menace.
1. The Referees Committee will be reviewed.
2. The procedures for appointment and notification of appointment of referees will be reviewed;
3. We will engage the services of private investigators and detectives to help trace all culprits
4. The state security agencies will be invited to assist in the identification and punishment of all perpetrators.
My advise to all Referees and Club Officials who have been involved in this unholy business to put a stop to it to avoid any embarrassments.
Inter Club Competitions
Regrettably, our clubs were not able to participate in the CAF interclubs competitions due primarily to finances. Liberty Professionals was able to successfully participate in the WAFU Competition.
As a way to encourage club participation in the CAF Interclub competition, discussions are underway to solicit Government support for clubs participation in CAF Interclub Competitions..
The World Cup Competitions
2010 is a year of World Cups. Ghana will participate in three (3) World Cup Competitions in South Africa, Germany and Trinidad & Tobago.
The black Stars commence camping on 24th May, 2010 in Paris, France in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa on 7th June 2010. We expect the Black Stars to perform well beyond the placing at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
A World Cup in Africa is expected to be won by an African team. The Black Stars is the favourite Africa team to lat a claim to winning the World Cup.
Our women U-20, the Black Princesses will participate in the World Cup in Germany, the team will undertake a training tour before the world cup to fine tune its readiness for the World Cup.
The Girls U-17 team will also participate in the World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago. May I request you to back all three teams with prayers for a successful World Cup.
Judicial bodies
The Judicial Bodies of the Football Association have performed creditably. We however need to take a look at concerns of delays in adjudicating cases at the FA.
We will empower the Committees to be more efficient.
I would need your inputs in order to fashion out clear modalities for its operation.
Media Relations
The FA has been very accessible to the media. However, in view of the growing interest in Football, many more people are increasingly seeking information from the GFA.
We will restructure our media outfit into a department to meet the increasing demands of the times.
The Leagues
The Premier League has 16 clubs. Forty-eight (48) clubs participated in the Division One League whiles different numbers of clubs participate in the various Regional Leagues. During my visits to the regions, a number of clubs requested an increase in the number of clubs in the Premier Division from 16 to 20. There were similar calls for the number of clubs in the Division One League to be increased from 48 to 60.
There do not seem, in my opinion, to be a demonstrable basis for the request. Clubs in the Premier and Division One Leagues are confronted with financial challenges which will be worsened by any increases. We should first consider possibilities to increase sponsors for the leagues before we look at increasing the number of participating clubs.