Chairman of the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA), Cudjoe Fianoo has blamed the National Sports Authority (NSA) and the Sports Ministry for government sidelining Ghana football in distribution of the COVID-19 stimulus package.
The CoronaVirus pandemic has left the football sector in dire conditions with some already adopting prudent cost cutting measures to stay afloat the sea of financial woes.
GHALCA together with the Ghana FA were expecting some support from government to financially cushion clubs in these troubling times.
However their hopes have been dashed after the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) in charge of distributing the package announced that football clubs were not factored.
Cudjoe Fianoo in interview with Kumasi FM expressed his disappointment towards the deputy Minister for youth and Sports the board chairman of the NSA for not doing enough to help the football fraternity.
“I heard from the deputy minister for youth and sports and the board chairman for the NSA confirming sports was not considered in government’s stimulus package,”
“It’s painful hearing it from these people because they are the leaders of our sports. They have to be blamed if government did not consider our proposal because our request was made through them, they failed in their duties,” he told Kumasi FM
He stressed that if the state fails to come to the aid of football clubs, the nation will be the biggest loser.
“We are all here, we will see party apparatchiks who turn into cheer leaders who will rush to join the team [Black Stars] when they qualify for a tournament,”
“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,”
“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? he queried.
“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,” he concluded.
