GRi Sports News Ghana 19 - 04 - 2001
Soccer-Sacked
Jones to sue GFA if...
Soccer-Hearts'
Osei Kuffuor to miss duel against Etoile
Soccer-Gt. Olympics
AGOOPA commends Olympics' IMC
Soccer-Hearts Thomas
Okine banned for four matches
Hockey-Floodlights
for Accra Hockey Pitch
Soccer-Sacked
Jones to sue GFA if...
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April
2001
Cecil Jones Attuquayefio who was
on Tuesday relieved of his appointment as the head coach of the Black Stars has
threatened to sue the Ghana Football Association (GFA) if he is not paid 80
thousand dollars within 14 days.
The legal threat is contained in a
letter written to the GFA by Solomon and Associates, his lawyers, and copied to
the Vice President and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hearts of Oak,
which was received at the football secretariat on Wednesday.
Jones claims that the termination
of his appointment is wrongful and that he should be paid his salary of 5,000
dollars per month for the four months that he has worked.
He is also demanding the payment
of his signing on fee of 30,000 dollars and compensation of six months salary
for wrongful termination of appointment.
The GFA sacked Jones by a letter
dated April 10 and signed by Mr Emmanuel A. Owusu-Ansah, Acting Chairman,
stating poor results and double employment as the reasons.
Jones who has been combining his
Black Stars job with that of Accra Hearts of Oak, however, insists that he was
not obliged by the conditions of employment to relinquish his position with
Hearts for the national team responsibility.
He said before his appointment,
series of meetings were held between the GFA and the management of Hearts of
Oak because Hearts had insisted that they would need him to prosecute their
assignments.
The coach said Hearts agreed to
release him to the national team on condition that he would camp the two teams
together if their match schedules coincide and that Hearts would bear their
part of the camping expenditure.
Jones said since the GFA, agreed
on the terms of Accra Hearts of Oak, it is unfair for them to state double
employment, as the reason for sacking him.
On the second reason of poor
results, Jones' lawyers said their client recorded poor results in his first
three matches but was kept "to play two subsequent matches, with better
results, clearly making nonsense of any argument of poor performance".
Jones was appointed head coach of
the Black Stars on 3 January after leading Accra Hearts of Oak to win the
African Champions League in December last year.
Under him the Black Stars played
five matches and lost the first three to Congo DR (2-1), Liberia (3-1) and
Sudan (1-0). but however, bounced back to draw with the Super Eagles of Nigeria
(0-0) and beat Congo DR (3-1).
After the first three loses, the
coach declined to invite the foreign based professionals and insisted, on using
a local squad made up mostly of players from his club, Accra Hearts of
Oak.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Soccer-Hearts'
Osei Kuffuor to miss duel against Etoile
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April
2001
Emmanuel Osei Kuffuor, the
'hitman' of Accra Hearts of Oak who registered a hat trick in their African
Champions League first leg encounter against Etoile du Congo is unfit for the
second leg match to be played in Brazzaville this week end.
Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, head
coach of the African Champions, Wednesday told the GNA Sports that Kuffuor's
toe, which was operated upon was still aching and the player would not be
available for the decisive return leg.
Jones said he was, however,
confident of subduing the Congolese in their own backyard given the two goal
advantage the Phobians will be carrying into the match, coupled with the fact
that pressure would be on Etoile to impress their home fans.
Mr Attuquayefio said the first leg
match was very difficult because "as African Champions we are in focus and
every opposition will meet us with great determination in order to cause an
upset.
"We are aware of this and we
have psyched up the boys to expect stiff challenges in all matches and live by
the 'never say die' motto of the club".
He said he would be going to Congo
with the full complement of his rear line as Yaw Amankwa Mireku, will be
legible to feature and the "Rambo Man", Agyeman Duah who was injured
in the first match, has recovered and has regained full match fitness.
Amankwa Mireku missed the first
leg match due to a red card handed him at the latter stages of the competition
last year.
The coach said he would rely on
the striking potency of the entire frontline and the midfielders to score a couple
of goals in Brazzaville to qualify them for the next stage of the competition.
On his sour relationship with the
Ghana Football Association over the Black Stars job, Mr Attuquayefio said he
has performed his duties to the best of his abilities and would not lose
anything if sacked.
"I want to have a peace of
mind and concentrate on my job at Accra Hearts of Oak. We have the World Clubs
Championship in Spain to think about and we have just begun the defence of the
African title.
"If the GFA thinks I am not
the right man for the Black Stars job, they are entitled to their
opinion", he concluded.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Soccer-Gt.
Olympics AGOOPA commends Olympics' IMC
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April
2001
The Accra great Olympics Old
Players Association (AGOOPA) has commended the Interim Management Committee
(IMC) of the club for raising a team to honour the first week league encounter
against Sekondi Hasaccas on Sunday.
In a statement signed by Nii
Awuley Nfeni III, chairman of AGOOPA, the old players said the ability of the
IMC to field a winsome team when they have been in charge for only a week is a
manifestation of the renaissance of the club.
The statement said the IMC needs
the support of everybody who has the interest of the club at heart and called
on all interest groups to come together and assist.
It urged the IMC not to relent in
its effort to put Olympics back on top of Ghana football saying that it is only
through hard work and sacrifice that they would succeed and be vindicated for
taking over from Ade Coker.
The AGOOPA appealed to supporters
of the club to sever links with detractors and turn out in their numbers to
cheer the team during matches to enable it get out of the doldrums and oblivion
into which it had been plunged for some time now.
It said a plan to establish a
Technical Liaison Committee (TLC) to deliberate on issues with the patrons,
directors and management as and when necessary, is on the drawing board.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Soccer-Hearts
Thomas Okine banned for four matches
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April
2001
The disciplinary Committee of the
Ghana Football Association (GFA) has banned Mr Thomas Okine, team manager of
Accra Hearts of Oaks from entering any league centre for four matches in the on
going Star premier League.
A release signed by Mr Kwaku
Apim-Darko, Deputy-General Secretary of the GFA said Mr Okine clearly
mis-conducted himself during the finals of this year's Guinness Gala, by
entering the field of play and ordering players of Hearts off the pitch against
Kotoko, which nearly brought the game into disrepute.
The statement said Mr Okine's action
would have embarrassed the Vice-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama and officail of
the GFA who were present at the time.
It said a decision was taken after
the committee had carefully examined the reports of the match commissioner and
the referee.
The statement further cautioned Mr
Okine that a repeat of such misconduct would attract a stiffer punishment.
Meanwhile, Okine who is out of the
country on continental assignment with Hearts has appealed against the decision
saying he will react appropriately on his return.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Hockey-Floodlights
for Accra Hockey Pitch
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April
2001
The Ghana Hockey Association (GHA)
in collaboration with the International Hockey Federation (FIH) is to provide
multipurpose floodlights to serve the Accra Hockey pitch.
The project, to cost a component
of 250 million cedis plus a foreign equivalent of about 70,000 dollars would
kick-start as soon as funds are available.
Mr Oko Nikoi-Dzani, Chairman of
GHA said in Accra on Wednesday that a quotation and specifications sent to the
FIH has been approved.
The local association is to
mobilise and raise the cedi component while the FIH is expected to beef-up the
amount with the dollar component.
As its first step, the FIH is to
send 10,000 dollars as seed money towards the project, Mr Nikoi-Dzani said, but
could not specify when the amount would be made available.
F. Malawi, through its agents in
Holland, Philips Electronics, is expected to construct the lights.
In the area of coaching, Mr
Nikoi-Dzani said the association has almost completed a deal with its
counterpart in India for a world class Hockey coach to be released to assist in
the rejuvenation of the sport in the country.
He said the GHA would foot the
lodging, feeding and salary of the expatriate coach, and added that an
apartment at the Winneba Sports College is being put in shape to house him.
Last year, the GHA in a similar
deal with the FIH constructed the first ever astro-turf in the country.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com