Ho
(Volta Region) 04 September 2000
Mr.
Albert Agbovi, National Instructor of the Confederation of African Football
(CAF), on Saturday said the taking of bribes by referees from club officials
has lowered the standard of officiating in Ghana.
He
therefore warned that referees found out to be accepting bribes would be barred
from officiating in the country.
Mr.
Agbovi, who was addressing a refresher course for referees and match
commissioners from the Volta Region at Ho said club officials would always seek
to influence match officials but it is for them to resist such approaches.
"It
is better to have very few dedicated referees than a host of referees who
cannot discipline themselves", he stated.
Mr.
Agbovi said since refereeing involves taking decisions in split seconds, they
must know the rules thoroughly and be current.
He
reminded referees of the requirement for all of them to pass physical fitness
tests before being appointed to officiate.
He
urged referees to write good reports that would facilitate decision making by
the Ghana Football Association (GFA).
Captain
(Rtd) George Nfodjo, Ho District Chief Executive said bad officiating which
leads to controversies deters companies from offering sponsorship packages for
sporting events.
GRi…/
Accra
(Greater Accra) 04 September 2000
Results
of 26th week ABC Premier league matches played on Sunday.
Accra:
Olympics 0 Bofoakwa 0 Dawu: Dawu 2
K’bibirem 0
Tamale: RTU 3
Kotoko 1 Kumasi: K. Faisal 1 Power 0
Nkawkaw: Okwawu
1 Ghapoha 0
GRi…/
Standings of the teams at the end of the 26th
week – 026
Team
Local/Region
P W D L F A Pts GD
Hearts Accra, Gt.
Accra 23 18
4 1 50 15 58 +35
King Faisal Kumasi,
Ashanti 26 12 5 8 32 23 42 +9
Goldfields Obuasi,
Ashanti 24 11
6 7 23 15 39 +8
Ghapoha Tema, Gt.
Accra 26 11 6
10 29 30 39 -1
Kotoko Kumasi,
Ashanti 26 9
7 10 33 32 34 -2
Okwawu Nkawkaw,
Eastern 26 11 7 7 30 24 40 +6
Liberty Accra, Gt.
Accra 26 11
3 12 37 29 36 +8
Bofoakwa Sunyani, Brong
Ahafo 26 9 6 13 23 30 33 -7
RTU Tamale,
Northern 26 11 4 11 25 22 37 -4
Hasaacas Sekondi,
Western 26 8 6
12 28 31 30 -3
Kwaebibirim Asuom,
Eastern 26 8 5 13 26 41 29 -15
Olympics Accra, Gt.
Accra 26 8 9
9 25 28 30 -4
Dawu Dawu,
Eastern 26 6 11
9 28 36 29 -7
Dwarfs Cape Coast,
Central 23 6 7
10 22 29 26 -7
Power F/C Koforidua,
Eastern 26 5 10
10 18 23 25 -5
B.A. United Sunyani, Brong
Ahafo 25 5 8 12 16 29 23 -13
(B.A
United-Hearts and Dwarfs-Goldfields matches have been postponed).
GRi…/
Accra
(Greater Accra) 04 September 2000
Resurgent
Accra Great Olympics failed to rediscover their recent winning form when they
settled for a goalless drawn game with visiting Tano Bofoakwa in their 26th ABC
premier league encounter at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday.
It
was one match that the Dade boys could have won by a cricket score line, but
erratic shooting up front coupled with lack of concentration by the strikers
robbed them.
After
a first minute scare by Bofoakwa's Alhaji Iddrisu, whose close range shot hit
the side net, Oly took total dominance of the game but failed to translate this
into goals. Barely five minutes after kick-off, Raja Nuredeen who was combining
beautifully with veteran Tanko Ibrahim in the attack, had to be stretched off
the field in pain after a clash with Bofoakwa's midfielder Victor Nunoo. Roger
Odamtten quickly took his place.
Minutes
after coming on, Odamtten had a golden opportunity of putting his side ahead
but fumbled infront of goalkeeper Alhassan Muhammed and saw his me-and-you shot
pushed to corner.
After
those near misses coupled with lack of imagination by rasta-haired Michael
Asante in the first half, Oly were nearly punished in the 48th and 54th minutes
by the visitors. Iddrisu's goal-bound header after a mid-air tussle with
goalkeeper David Sharpe was expertly scooped off the line by George Essifi n
the 48th minute and six minutes later Gerald Malir's similar header was pushed
to safety by Sharpe.
Issaka
and Tanko Ibrahim gave way to Kweku Duah and Walter Mensah in the 54 and 57th
minutes respectively to add more bite to the attack but alas, that rather
worsened their poor shooting at goal. Rather it was the defenders and the
midfielders who occasionally overlapped to get the match winner.
Aziz
Ansah hit the wood works in the 61st minute and his thunderbolt took a ricochet
off the cross bar eight minutes later.
GRi…/
Kumasi
(Ashanti Region) 04 September 2000
In
Kumasi, King Faisal maintained their home dominance when they beat Power FC 1-0
in their match.
The
match winner came from the boot of Nuru Ahmed who took advantage of a goalmouth
melee to push the ball into the net in the 34th minute.
After
the initial exchanges, Power earned the first corner-kick in the seventh minute
but wasted it.
Faisal
came into the game briefly but lost control to Power who surprised them with
swift and manly game and put Faisal under sustained pressure but their
attackers fumbled in front of goal.
Let
off the hook, Faisal returned the attack and had a good chance to snatch the
leader in the 23rd minute but Awudu Ronaldo squandered the chance.
Then
in the 27th minute, a Power FC defender headed out a goal bound ball from a
corner-kick taken from the left and eventually went ahead in the 34th minute
through Nuru Ahmed.
Power
were not daunted and were relentless in their forays into Faisal's goal area
and almost on the stroke of half time, earned a free kick outside the goal area
but Emmanuel Quarshie's fierce shot hit the cross bar and rebounded into play.
In
the 56th minute, they came close to equalising but Shaibu Issifu's pull-out was
cut off by the Faisal defence.
GRi…/
15th minute penalty puts Okwawu ahead
Nkawkaw
(Eastern Region) 04 September 2000
A
15th minute penalty scored by inside left Benjamin Addo was all that Okwawu
United needed to collect the three maximum points from Tema based Ghapoha in
their ABC Premier League match at the Nkawkaw Park.
Sunyani
based FIFA referee Bissi awarded a penalty to Okwawu in the 15th minute when
Felix Nii Ayi Tetteh was heavily brought down in the penalty box by Foster
Mensah when he was in good position to score.
Okwawu
United who were dictating the pace of the game had a chance to increase the
tally in the 17th minute but inside-left Felix Nii Ayi Tetteh delayed his kick
for Ghapoha's keeper Emmanuel Tawaih to clear the ball.
GHAPOHA
began to play it hard and rough when they failed to contain the slippery Okwawu
attackers and referee Bissi had to show his yellow card to in left right Benard
Don-Bortey and right half back Foster Mensah in the 40th and 65th minute respectectively.
GHAPOHA
made amend in the second half and pilled up pressure but the Okwawu defence
pivoted around right full back Seth Osei and central defender Edward Acquah
foiled all their attempt on goal.
In
the 60th minute GHAPOHA sent in Ali Mustapha and Jacod Dickson for Yunis Kemil
and Sam Arthur while Okwawu also sent in Abdul Karim Migima for Kofi Apetor in
the 63rd minute but no goals were scored till the referee brought procedings to
a halt.
GRi…/
Tamale
(Northern Region) 04 September 2000
Real
Tamale United (RTU) came from an early scare to outplay and bang in three goals
to beat visiting Kumasi Asante Kotoko 3-1 at the Kaladan Park.
It
was RTU who kicked off but soon lost the ball to the visitors; but with
effective mid-field dominance, they managed to hold Kotoko in the check.
Against
the run of play, Kotoko however silenced the pack to capacity park, when
outside left Shilla Alhassan capitalised on the laxity of the RTU's goalie
Sulemana Abukari in the 14th minute.
RTU
with their pride at stake sent in more men upfront but messed up a golden
opportunity in the 20th minute when their centre-forward Abass Iddrisu narrowly
missed the goal post.
Abass
Iddrissu however atoned for his mistake when in the 28th minute sent in a cross
that was beautifully headed into the net by outside left Alfa Potobawi.
On
the stroke of half time, Abass Idrissu was on hand again with a two-man
combination to beat Kotoko's keeper Osei Boateng, the man of the match, for
unrushing Potobawi to increase their scores to two in the 45th minute.
After
the recess, Kotoko's outside left Lawrence Adjei fouled an RTU player and the
referee rightly whistled for a foul, but this incessed the Kotoko coach, Ernest
Middendorp who rushed on the assistant referee Robert Aggrey for the referee to
give him the marching off order.
Midddendorp
misconducted himself by challenging and heckling the referee and the military
and Police security guards and this help up play for about 10 minutes.
When
play resumed RTU went into attack and a long lob from Alfa Potobawi saw Hamza
mohammed in front who shot into the net for RTU's third goal in the 75th
minute.
GRi…/
Dawu
(Eastern Region) 04 September 2000
Dawu
Youngsters defeated Kwaebibirem by two goals to nil in their match played at
Dawu on Sunday. Inside right, Adama Amadu was the hero of the day as he scored
both goals for Dawu.
Adama
opened the scores in the 32nd minute and Dawu held on it till the recess
despite intense pressure from Kwaebibirem attackers.
In
the second half Kwaebibirem increased the tempo of the game in an effort to
draw level but it was Dawu who scored again through Awudu Adama when he
punished Kwaebibirerm for a momentary loss of concentration in the 53rd minute.
Kwaebibirem
fought back gamely but the defence of Dawu remained resolute till the end of
the match.
GRi…/
Accra
(Greater Accra) 04 September 2000
Eight
new records in the field and track events were set at this year's 10-day
inter-regional Basic Schools Sports Festival, which ended at the Accra Sports
Stadium on Saturday.
The
events which recorded new times were the 1500, 200, 400, 4x100, 4x400, 800
meters, long jump and triple jump.
Solim
Botsor of the Volta region smashed the old record in the 1500 metres of 4:41.53
set by Rita Kumpualo of Upper East Region during the Koforidua '98 edition with
4:38:6 seconds.
A
new record time of 2:14.8 was set by Adwoa Dansowaa of the central region in
the 800 meters disposing off the 2:17:72sec set by Doris Asase of the Volta
region in 1994 while Salimatu Alhassan of Ashanti Region recorded 58.4sec as
against 58:50 set by Vida Anim also of Ashanti in the 400 metres.
Ben
Agyei Boakye clocked a time of 22:6sec in the 200 metres to break the old
record of 23:48 set by Edward Aikins of the Greater Accra region while Alex
Ofori (Greater Accra) clocked 2:10.2 as against 2:04.54 set by James Awalime of
Ashanti in 1998.
In
long Jump, Galley Antoinnete of the Volta Region jumped 5.32 metres to smash
the old one 5.08 by Rose Agboada also of the Volta region in the Sunyani '96
games while Eben Arthur from the Central Region set a records time of 13:88 as
against 13:25 set by Felix Ampaabeng (Central Region) in 1998.
The
Volta team clocked 50:7 in the girls 4x400 metres as against 50:87 by the
Ashanti team in 1998 while Ashanti team were timed 4:02.0 in the 4x400 metres
to scrap the 4:07.46 by the Volta Region in 1996 from the books.
In
all Ashanti region won the boy's athletics event with 94.5 points, Greater
Accra followed with 87.5 points while Volta came third with 85 points.
In
the girls division Volta snatched the first position with 109 points while
Ashanti and Central followed with 71 and 62 points respectively.
In
the soccer competition, Ashanti Region whitewashed Upper East 11-1 in the final
lift the trophy in football while Eastern placed third.
Shaibu
Yakubu of Ashanti who banged in 12 goals, emerged as both the best player and
goalking of the competition.
In
the volleyball competition, Eastern came first while Volta and Northern placed
second and third respectively in the girls division.
In
the boys division, Northern won the first place while Eastern and Greater Accra
placed second and third respectively.
Central
won the boys table tennis, Eastern and Ashanti placed second and third
respectively. In the girls division Ashanti took the first spot while Western and central won the second
and third positions respectively.
Ashanti
region emerged the overall winners of the competition, Volta and Eastern were
the first and second runners up while the Upper West took the 10th position.
The
winners in the various divisions each won a trophy, a set of jersey, three
cartons of Milo and a certificate while the runner-up took two cartons of Milo,
a set of jersey, two cartons of Milo and a certificate with the third place
winner took home a certificate. In addition to their prizes the winners in the
soccer and volleyball competitions were given two balls each.
The
bi-annual festival will be held in 2002 in Tamale.
The
pupils competed in soccer, volleyball, athletics, cross-country, table tennis
and netball in the 10-day competition.
GRi…/
Cape Coast
(Central Region) 04 September 2000
Tema Real
Sportive drew 1-1 with Ho Voradep to qualify for the national middle league
competition in their final sub-middle league-qualifying match at the Cape Coast
Sports Stadium on Saturday.
Sportive
secured a total of seven points to qualify from four matches. The Tema team was the first to score in the
25th minute after series of unsuccessful attempt at goal. Right halfback Kofi
Asare, found the net when he finished off a move initiated down the right
flank.
Voradep
repulsed the challenge and pulled level through centre forward Richard Obeng before
half time.
On
resumption, both teams played a determined game but could not alter the score
line.
GRi…/
Accra
(Greater Accra) 04 September 2000
Ashanti
Region on Saturday became the overall winner of this year's basic schools
sports festival held in Accra.
Volta and
Eastern Region placed second and third respectively.
The ten-day
competition saw pupils competing in soccer, volleyball, table tennis, netball
and athletics.
In the
finals of the soccer competition, Ashanti demolished their Upper East
counterparts by 11 goals to 1.
Ashanti
made their intentions known as early as the second minute when Shaibu Yakubu,
spearheading the attack, wasted no time in slotting home a cross from Anthony
Adarkwah.
Galvanised
by the early goal, Ashanti took control of the game and nearly increased the
tally but Adarkwa missed a spot kick they earned after Shaibu Yakubu was
brought down by Fuseini Ibrahim in the goal area in the eighth minute.
Upper East
accepted the challenge and tried a powerful shot through David Nmusah in the
12th minute but his effort was wasted when his shot soared over the bar.
Ashanti
continued to dominate, piling up pressure on Upper East who seemed completely
lost in the game.
In the 17th
minute, Adu Gyamfi's delivery from the right flank was beautifully converted by
Martin Nyarko in the 17th minute.
Upper East
had another chance in the 26th minute through Richard Kanto but his goal bound shot
was saved by Mamudu Adama in post for Ashanti.
Ashanti's
third goal came in the 17th minute when a long cross from George Ntiamoah to
Shaibu was quickly passed on to Adarkwah to score in the 28th minute.
Upper East
quickly replied in the 29th minute through a penalty kick taken by Richard
Kanton after Forster Gyasi of Ashanti had touched the ball, getting their only
goal of the match.
In the 34th
and 39th minutes, Shaibu wasted no chances with the loose defence of Upper East
and scored the fourth and fifth goals for his side.
On
resumption, Ashanti continued to dominate with Shaibu, who won both the best
player and goal king awards of the competition, scoring two more goals while
Abdul Sadat and Adarkwa scored the 10th and 11th goals for Ashanti.
Upper East,
in their frustration, started playing a rough game, resulting in three of their
players being sent off.
Shaibu, a
JSS One pupil of Obuasi Anglican and a player of Goldfields Academy, scored 12
goals in the soccer competition and was given a pair of boots and jersey.
The Ashanti
team was also given a trophy, a set of jersey, two footballs and three cartons
of Milo.
In his
closing remarks, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Director General of the
Ghana Education Service, said even though it was not easy organising the
competition at both the district and regional levels, this did not signify a
bleak future for the basic schools sports festival because of the involvement
of the District Assemblies.
He
commended the organisers and corporate bodies for their contributions towards
the success of the games and appealed for financial support for talented but
needy students.
Prof.
Ameyaw-Akumfi urged the players not to relent in their efforts but work hard to
bring honour to the nation.
GRi…/