Lawyer Yaw Boafo calls for fair officiating ahead of the MTN FA Cup final between archrivals Asante Kotoko SC and Accra Hearts of Oak on October 29 at the Tamale Stadium.
The management member made the appeal when the Porcupines hosted the FA Cup Committee (FACC) at the Sports Hotel, Kumasi, on Saturday, October 14, as part of the trophy tour being aimed at heightening excitement and public interest in the build-up to the showpiece.
Among the topics discussed was officiating, a subject that always comes under scrutiny when Ghana’s two biggest clubs clash. Recent games contested by the pair –especially in the Ghana Premier– League have been drenched in no little controversy, with decisions deemed to have benefited Hearts of Oak on said occasions dominating post-match talk.
To avoid the unpleasant prospect of such wrong calls — real or perceived — from marring what promises to be quite a thriller in Tamale, Lawyer Yaw Boafo ( Head of Legal Affairs) Kotoko, had some counsel for the officials who’d handle the game; urging them to ensure an incident-free match.
“We [Kotoko] want the best team to win,” Lawyer Boafo emphasized, going on to express his conviction that, “on any given day”, Kotoko wouldn’t need the assistance of biased refereeing to beat Hearts, a team inferior to the Porcupine Warriors on several counts.
To underline his concerns, Lawyer Boafo made reference to the first league meeting between Kotoko and Hearts in 2017 when a dubious penalty awarded the Phobians in Accra by referee Samuel Sukah helped them to a 1-0 win that left fans of Kotoko and even neutrals thoroughly disappointed.
Turning his attention to attendance at the final, Lawyer Boafo, one of Ghana’s finest legal brains, assured the Committee that Kotoko fans, true to form, could be expected to turn up in their numbers — and for quite a few reasons.
“We are closer to Tamale than Accra Hearts of Oak [by virtue of Kumasi’s greater proximity to the Northern Region than coastal Accra],” Lawyer Boafo explained. He also cited the renowned propensity of Kotoko fans to travel far and wide to watch their team play as well as the age-old popularity of the Porcupine Warriors in the final’s host region to back his claim of the fixture effectively being a “home match” for Kotoko.
Credit: Asantekotokosc.com
