It was a welcoming news to hear that the Ghana Football Association had directed clubs to observe a minute of silence before kick-off in match day 17 to the late Captain Mahama. And as the nation continues to grieve on the death of our hero, an opportunity arise for us to cast the spotlight on the sense of ‘INSTANT INJUSTICE’ which has become part of the fabric of the society. A culture that traces its antecedent from the revolutionary days of ‘let the blood flow’.
I Won’t repeat the goring narrative, of how the Military Captain, Maxwell Adam Mahama was massacred in his call to duty to the state to help curb illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey which have plagued the country in the last decade.
For those of us in the football fraternity, fans, and club officials and especially the Ghana Football Association, the captain’s death mirrors what we witness at various match day centers, the unending tale of gang action, known to us as hooliganism. A problem that has sucked interest in the local league. Referees, journalists and fans have suffered from both physical and verbal abuse at match venues, and as the government takes steps to ensure that such stabbing incidents do not become part of our character us a people, it would be worthwhile to turn attention to people who have had to suffer in the performance of their duties during football games and reflect.
Referee T. Aggrey. On September 2005 at the Robert Mensah stadium class one referee T. Aggrey was assaulted after a premier league match involving Dwarfs and Kpando Hearts of Lions. Fans of the home team, Ebusua Dwarfs, accused the match official of been biased and took matters into their own hands when they broke the perimeter boundary, invaded the pitch attacked the referee while some stood afar and threw missiles at the referee. The match official and his assistances had to wait for more than 40 minutes before finding their way out of the stadium owing to fans blocking their exit point.
Referee Kwame Kyei Andoh. The precocious 21 year old referee who had started out from the third tier of Ghana’s league pyramid, was brutally attacked after a game between Gold Stars and Naa Joe United in Bordie in the Western Region. The young man died five days after he was attacked, though his death was not linked to the incident that happened during the match, there can be no justification for what the fans of Gold Stars meted out to the promising referee.
Referee Patrick Kojo Kyeremanteng. The Kumasi based referee was attacked during an FA Cup match between Aduana Stars and Instanbul FC at the Dormaa Park on Monday 25th May 2015. The referee was reported to have received a punch from Instanbul player called Henry Amenyo which brought the game to a halt. This ensued after the player was shown a red card for a foul on his opponent. This same referee was gruesomely assaulted in a premier league match involving Ebusua Dwarfs and Aduana Stars in 2012.
This season, the Sports Writers Association of Ghana {SWAG} appealed to the Premier League Board to take action against teams whose fans attacked journalist. This call came after photo journalist Miss Senyuidzorm Adadevor was removed from the inner perimeter by some fans of Accra Great Olympics during match day 5. Felix Romark and James Sowah authors of Ghana Premier League Live, an exciting website that seeks to promote the league were also accosted and prevented from entering the press box during the samematch week at the Oseadeyo Agyeman Badu Park. Samuel Boakye Buckman, Gomes Pageh , Emmanuel Tinkorang just to mention a few members of the press that have been subjects of abuse at match venues.
To our security officers who are deployed to the various match venues, the death of Captain Mahama is a wakeup call to protect every soul at the mercy of crowed abuse. To the Ghana Football Association and the Premier League Board the demise of the late captain should is a call for more punitive measure against acts of hooliganism. To fans and cub officials the hearts wrenching manner in which the Captain was murdered should be a plea to be patient and resort to authorities such as the police and match commissioners and the GFA.
Football is a tool to bring people together and the death of Captain Maxwell Adams Mahama should reinforce this idea.
REST IN PEACE MAJOR MAXWELL ADAMS MAHAMA
CREDIT: RICHARD GYASI