Ashgold facing 2-year ba

By Daniel Oduro

Premier League side AshantiGold is facing a potential 2-year ban from the Ghana Football Association following their refusal to honour an MTN FA Cup quarterfinal clash with Asante Kotoko at the Accra Sports stadium on Sunday, April 13, 2014.

The game, which was originally scheduled for the Baba Yara Stadium, had to be moved to Accra due to the temporal closure of the venue to Kotoko. But the Miners refused to honour the game, citing budgetary constraints as the reason for their action.

The Executive Committee of the Ghana Football Association last Thursday announced the temporal closure of the stadium in Kumasi following incidents of supporters throwing missiles onto the field of play after the final whistle of Kotoko's First Capital Plus Premier League match with Heart of Lions on March 26, 2014.

Finder Sports’ investigations have however revealed that Ashgold refused to play the game because they see the change of venue from Kumasi to Accra as a punishment on them rather than Kotoko. Ashgold, who reside in Obuasi, believe that if Kotoko’s violent conduct has led to the closure of the Kumasi stadium, then the rational thing to do was to move the game to Obuasi or a venue closer, and not to Accra. For Ashgold, moving the game to Accra seems like a punishment to them rather than Kotoko.

The top brass of the MTN FA Cup committee and the Ghana Football Association, as well as cable television station SuperSport is deeply upset. The FA Cup committee say the excuse given by the Obuasi-based club cannot hold because the FA Cup Committee agreed to provide extra funds to cover Ashgold’s cost for the game originally fixed to be played at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.

Ashgold were promised a staggering GH₵6000 (the biggest ever received by any club in the competition) and 25% of the total gate proceeds, simply to massage their egos to honour the match which was moved to Accra as the result of the ban.

The Miners, however, refused to make the trip south to honour the match despite the pledges and interventions made by high-ranking officials of the Ghana FA.

A member of the FA Cup committee who spoke to Finder Sports on condition of anonymity said Ashgold would definitely be banned from the competition for their failure to turn up for the quarterfinal with Kotoko.