Ghana FA executive Addo begs national government’s mercy on football clubs

Ghana Football Association (GFA) Executive Committee member Samuel Anim Addo has stated the national government would have to come to the aid of football clubs to drive the sport.

Teams, especially in the elite division, have always cried about the financial challenge of running such an outfit, and about the lack of support from the national government.

The complaints have worsened by the suspension of competitions due to the coronavirus pandemic, even more by the snub of sports in a Government of Ghana stimulus package for businesses to alleviate the impact of Covid-19.

“If we are going to always raise funds from our own pockets – the little we’ve earned from our private businesses – into the game, then we are in for trouble,” Addo said, as reported by Ghana Web.

“It is time that we get support from government and corporate organizations to make sure that the game will be played the way it ought to be played because all these corporate brands use football to promote their brands.

“It is clear that they use football as a channel so they have to come in so that the game will rise to the level we all want and then we enjoy the fruit of it.

“We the people in the game in Ghana are really suffering because the little that I have saved through private businesses for my family has to be used for the game.

“In our part of the world, what we do is to pay the boys [with the little we have] until we get a transfer fee from a boy who gets to Europe. Then we get some good money, else all the money you earn from a private business will have to be invested into the game.”

The GFA and the Ghana League Clubs Association (Ghalca), through the Ghana Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) and its sub-body the National Sports Authority (NSA) had presented a proposal for consideration after the government announced a planned financial boost to alleviate the suffering of businesses in the current challenging times. 

However, sports have not been listed as a beneficiary of the tranche of funds released for the disbursement. 

“If government is not ready to help us, it is the nation that loses. This is an eye-opener to the clubs, in our rush for football to resume, people want to take us for granted. We have not asked government to put money in the pocket of club owners,” Ghalca chairman Kudjoe Fianoo said on the recent sports snub by government. 

“We claim football is the passion of the nation, these club owners are suffering due to Covid-19 and government is not ready to help them?

“If these people decide not to invest in football again, they will not be arrested.

“We are all here, we will see what will happen to the ‘passion of the nation’. Something must be done to save football. We will need to reassemble and decide the next step.”

All competitions have been at a standstill since March 15.