Football

It seemed a mirage until we lived the moments of the 2020/21 Ghana Premier League. For the first time in four (4) years, the West African football nation organised a competitive football season and saw it through to the end. Though largely successful, I would deny myself being the sole judge on this matter (of success) and instead state my opinion without twists.

In the Ghanaian sense, and as reasonable as it may sound, a season can only be termed successful when a new football campaign has kicked off without disruption to the football calendar due to legal disputes. To a more significant extent, many followers of the Ghana League have little or no room for legal tussles. In their books, a season with many disciplinary issues to its credit would not make good memories. Talk about disputes on Ghana’s domestic football scene has become more prominent than before due to one primary reason; A match-fixing case is currently being investigated by the Ghana Football Association against two premier league clubs, AshGold Sporting Club and Inter Allies Football Club.

On Saturday, July 17, 2021, the match between the two sides was played on the final week of the league – day 34 – and drew global attention after a player of Inter Allies scored an own goal at the Obuasi Len Clay Stadium, AshGold’s home venue. In his defence, he attempted to alter the predicted score, rumoured ahead of the game.

GHANA FA REACTS TO SAVE ITS REPUTATION AND PUBLIC TRUST.
The Ghana FA Issues a statement commencing sporting investigations – on July 17 and followed by an invitation and collaboration with Ghana Police for Criminal Investigations on July 23. Invites several players and club officials to assist with investigations, freezing the transfer of all players and officials involved on match day. Between August 18 and September 9, 2021, the GFA Prosecutor officially charged the clubs, 36 players, and 12 officials (including AshGold President & CEO) and allowed for defence statements.

Three months later, the 2021/22 Ghana Premier League season is set to commence on October 30, 2021. 18 Premier League clubs again go at each other for the silverware, continental representation, GHC 250000, and bragging rights. Without a doubt, and in one voice, there’s a general call for the football association to “take action” to avoid putting the season’s calendar into disarray. Of course, it would be very satisfying to the ear to learn the Disciplinary Committee of the FA has done so in real time.

In simple language, the average Ghanaian has become more interested in the Ghanaian football season than before and, as expected, decided to bring back the love for Ghana football, and nothing must stall this progress. More importantly, corporate Ghana is keenly monitoring as it could swing the pendulum on potential sponsorships for the Association. On the contrary, I beg to say that there are a few reasons why this pressure to act would be on hold despite the FA’s seeming energy to crack down on match-fixing and protect the sanity of the sport. The system yearns for scapegoats; however, if lawbreakers must be fished out and punished, it must be done within the remits of the law.

• The audi alteram partem rule must be respected – All parties involved must be duly given the right to a fair hearing before any decisions are released. It would be unfair, in the interest of integrity and protecting the reputation of the FA, to prematurely decide on the matter. Let me use Dr Bently’s biblical grounds in the case of R V University of Cambridge (1723)….. “Even God himself did not pass sentence upon Adam before he was called upon to make his defence.” Innocent until proven guilty, the accused deserves to be heard and given a fair hearing. It is not just about banning officials or demoting a club, and players are involved. I fully stand for cleansing our game if it has such dark spots. Regardless we must tread cautiously when determining the future of individuals and their source of living. Our beloved Association must get the ruling right. Do not play to the gallery.

• A contravention of natural justice only leads to making the water murkier -Perhaps we can borrow the legal principles from Hearts of Oak v. Ghana Football Association (1982) where an application for an order of interim injunction to restrain the GFA was secured. Indeed, the courts denied themselves from delving into the matters of the FA and did not stultify its rights to maintain discipline in football. However, it did grant “an injunction for a limited period to enable the GFA institute a proper judicial inquiry into the occurrences… and take whatever action they deemed fit”.

Years ago, Accra Great Olympics – a Ghana premier league club- earned notoriety for legal proceedings against the Football Association or fellow league clubs. In recent times, Tema Youth seems to be leading the log for litigation and makes legal sense once they deem it necessary within the regulations. Essentially, – on behalf of the Ghanaian football stakeholder – the football ecosystem is tired and weary of injunctions and threats that have the potency to cause chaos. Legal counsel for any affected member who feels foul of the law would undoubtedly exercise all legal options available to me until the end. The judicial bodies of the Football Association must be ready and aware of this. Any offender would not go down quickly and aptly demands why such a case – which looks sure to become a stare decisis for Ghanaian football jurisprudence- must be well done.

There’s little reason to doubt the experts at the helm of affairs. I admire their intelligence and understanding of the law; however, this is a delicate one, and there must be little or no room for errors. Playing the devil’s advocate, they may be under pressure to “perform and lash out”. Perhaps it is the failure of the media to educate our football-loving fans that starting the league with an unsettled dispute is not a new phenomenon, even globally. While it is not new, we can only proceed with temporary decisions if there’s satisfactory evidence; otherwise, it casts no slur on our league if we must travel full length to unravel this misery. I beg to ask, are the media handicapped in knowledge?

MATCH-FIXING CASES: A reasonable time is essential for sound legal decisions. All over the world, match-fixing cases have been concluded on sound legal judgments and laws. Briefly enumerated below are three legal precedents in different jurisdictions. In these, the following similarities are established; 1. The accused exercise their right to appeal. 2. Cases never reached a full conclusion until after two years. 3. Appeal beyond the football circle to the Court of Arbitration for Sports. 4. Attempt to exhaust all possible legal remedies, including the Swiss Federal Tribunal. 5. Preliminary Investigations were only released after three months leading to prior sanctions on individuals. (Clubs later suffered full sanctions where applicable). 6. Criminal Investigations are the state’s prerogative, but the national federations always exercise their right to hand out Sporting sanctions.

The Turkey Betting Scandal – Fernabache Sporting Club

A. Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü is a professional football club based in Istanbul and a member of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF). Between February 21 to May 15, 2011, in some football games in the Turkish “Süper Lig,” various people around Fenerbahçe were paid bribes to lose the game. They later won the league and qualified for UEFA Champions League. On July 3, 201, police arrested 61 people in a broad criminal investigation concerning match-fixing in Turkish football. In its decisions of September 9 and November 3, 2011, under an appeal by Fenerbahçe against the decision of the TFF arbitration commission of August 25, 2011, the CAS rejected the applications for provisional remedies. On April 26, 2012, the TFF Ethics Committee released the report of an investigation into the charges that various football games had been manipulated, among others, those in which Fenerbahçe participated.

On July 2, 2012, the High Criminal Court in Istanbul held that a criminal organisation had been created under the leadership of the president of Fenerbahçe and that officials of Fenerbahçe had participated in manipulating 13 games of the 2010/2011 season. 48 persons were found guilty; the president of Fenerbahçe 2.5 years imprisonment for building a criminal organisation, 3 years and nine months, and a fine for match-fixing; the vice president of Fenerbahçe and 2 other management board members faced a minimum of 26 months imprisonment for participating in a criminal organisation and match-fixing activities. And on June 22, 2013, the Control and Disciplinary Body of UEFA excluded Fenerbahçe from the following 3 UEFA competitions. Case exhausted all legal remedies on October 16, 2014, at the First Civil Law Court of the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

B. The Boniface case of the Zambia Football Association
• Incidents of match-fixing took place between 2010 and 2012 and were officially documented for match-fixing in 2017. The Zambian National u23 team was used for matches of convenience, and subsequently, a verdict was released in 2019 and ended after an appeal at CAS in July 2020.

C. The Football Federation of Ukraine via the Control and Disciplinary Committee
In 2010, a verdict was released on players and officials of Metalist FC, a Ukrainian club. Match-fixing, own goal, players and officials involved in a match played in 2008. A ban was released after 2 years of investigation in 2010. Ban was appealed at the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU)Appeal level. There were further appeals at CAS, and decision was upheld. Appellant, still not satisfied, went on to fight at the SWISS Federal Tribunal against the grounds on which evidence was acquired. The case was finally put to bed in 2014.

The message is quite clear. The GFA must not sacrifice legal reasoning for social pressure. Facing the Fixers demands tactfulness and sufficient intelligence. A ruling which stands the test of time is what this current atmosphere needs. And, of course, if it bothers on demotion or promotion of any of the parties involved, good legal decisions often leave no room for ambiguity and always maintain sanity and order.

A DARK HISTORY
After six months of sporting investigations, the GFA, on September 24, 2007, handed transfer bans to 22 players who directly took part in a match-fixing scandal. Okwahu United, Nania FC, Great Mariners, and Mighty Jets were fined a total of GHC 20,000 and suffered a one-year ban from all leagues, events, and activities of the GFA.

In June 2018, a football documentary dubbed Number 12 sought to highlight the level of corruption in football and among football administrators in Ghana. It gained international eyebrows and reduced Ghana’s pride among its international counterparts. On October 25, 2019, FIFA, through the Normalization Committee, ushered Ghana Football into a new era.

It is inherent for this new administration to steer away from the past and present a new image. For this reason, match-fixing must not gain ground as all caught in this web must dance to the music of the law without mercy. It is essential to uphold our values and protect the integrity of our sport. Gracias.