Learn From Stadium Ban - Akanbi Warn Hearts Fans

Accra Hearts of Oak Board member, Alhaji Braimah Akanbi has cautioned the clubs fans to learn from their stadium ban.

The 2015/16 Ghana Premier League (GPL) leader’s were hit with a fans ban by the Disciplinary Committee (DC) of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) after water bottles and other missiles were thrown onto the field of play during their 1-3 home defeat to Wa All Stars.

Mr Akanbi who was present during the unpleasant scene, has therefore called on fans to learn from the mistake and the heavy punishment imposed on the team and not repeat the act anymore.

“Players have nothing to do with this but rather the supporters but the punishment has been meted out onto the club and thus we have got to learn from this. Football is changing, football is a big business and people are investing into it,” he said.

“These investors won’t like to be associated with such violence and it is high time club supporters learn and be educated on hooliganism and the negative effect it has on all affiliated with football,” he added.

Hearts played their first game of a two match ban on Wednesday when they defeated Sekondi Hasaacas by a lone goal to stay top of the GPL table after 12 games.

Learn From Stadium Ban - Akanbi Warn Hearts Fans

Kumasi Sports Stadium Estate Officer Caught "Drunk"

The Estate Officer of the Kumasi Sports Stadium has been caught drunk on the job by the Minister for Youth and Sports, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye during a surprise visit to the national stadium.

Nii Lantey, who since his appointment has been touring the country visiting the various stadiums and sporting facilities to check on improvements and ensure proper maintenance of state properties, took his visit to the Kumasi Sports Stadium and got perhaps a waiting surprise package, – a drunk estate manager’.

Sportscrusader.com investigations revealed that the Minister has already built a dossier on all the staff there (at the stadium) and his work paid off with the confirmation of meeting the officer drunk whilst at work.

The officer who had to meet the Minister upon arrival at the Stadium was was smelling of alcohol and slurring and could not express himself well when addressing the minister and his entourage.

Sportscrusader.com can confirm that the Sports Minister has plans of sacking the Estate Officer with immediate effect.

Kumasi Sports Stadium Estate Officer Caught "Drunk"

West Ham To Pay £2.5m Olympic Stadium Rent Per Year

West Ham will pay £2.5m a year to rent the 60,000-seater Olympic Stadium, it has been revealed after the deal was made public following a legal battle.

The ground’s owners, the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), fought a ruling that the contract should be published, but the appeal was rejected this week.

West Ham will pay the sum per year over the 99-year lease, the 207-page document has revealed.

The Hammers move in this summer.

The first £4m of any naming rights deal will go to the LLDC and Newham borough, with anything above that between the two bodies and West Ham.

The rent will be halved to £1.25m if West Ham are relegated.

The LLDC, which had spent thousands of pounds fighting the ruling, said the decision could cost the organisation “millions of pounds”.

But it has decided not to appeal against the tribunal’s ruling.

Extra payments West Ham could have to make

£1m if they win the Champions League    

£100,000 if they win the FA Cup or Europa League, or qualify for it

£250,000 if they qualify for the Champions League group stages    

£100,000 if they finish in the top five in the Premier League, with smaller payments for other positions in the top 10

The club were awarded tenancy of the London 2012 stadium in 2013, and at least £272m has been spent to convert the site for use as a Premier League ground.

West Ham have contributed £15m towards those costs. Last year a BBC documentary revealed the club was having many of the running costs of the stadium paid for it by the taxpayer under the terms of the tenancy agreement.

United will not have to pay for a range of staff including cleaners and turnstile operators. Heating and lighting costs will also be covered by the stadium managers.

A coalition of 14 supporters’ trusts from around the country submitted a Freedom of Information request to obtain that tenancy agreement and believe the deal gives West Ham, who have played at Upton Park since 1904, a competitive advantage.

West Ham say they have nothing to hide, believe it is a “great deal” for the club and the taxpayer, and say the stadium offers a true legacy.

The club added: “Someone renting the stadium for 25 days a year cannot be responsible for 365 days’ running costs.”

A coalition of 14 supporters’ groups and trusts of several different clubs campaigned for the information to be released. In a statement it said: “This is the right decision for the taxpayer, and the right decision for football.”

Credit: BBC

West Ham To Pay £2.5m Olympic Stadium Rent Per Year

Opinion: Accra Sports Stadium Dressing Rooms Under Renovation

Work is ongoing at the dressing rooms of the Accra Sports stadium to get it in shape for the AFCON qualifier between the Ghana Black Stars and the Mambas of Mozambique.

The structure has not seen any renovation for several years due to the popular “lack of funds” syndrome, yet, it seems with the imminent arrival of the Black Stars for the AFCON ’17 qualifier, “funds have been found” to fix and get the dressing room into” acceptable” state.

This attitude justifies the massive importance attached to the Black Stars in terms of branding, motivation, player welfare among others.

Works on-going at the Accra sports stadium

Hearts of Oak useds the same facility as its home grounds and have played two GPL home matches but had to contend with the hot room temperature on those two match days.

This apparent preferential treatment begs the question; “Are the players of the national team any better than those who play in the Ghana premier league?”

 

Drop a comment below if you have any thoughts similar or dissimilar to mine.

Opinion: Accra Sports Stadium Dressing Rooms Under Renovation

Hearts/Allies game ends in stalemate

A pre-season friendly match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Inter Allies ended one all at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday.

Hearts scored first through defender Vincent Atinga who headed in a cross from George Yamoah in the 60th minute.

The Tema based side equalised through Sierra-Leonean winger `Prince Barry who capitalized on a blunder by Hearts goalkeeper Soulama Abdulai in the last quarter of the game.

Hearts created several scoring chances afterwards but failed to utilised them.

The match forms part of activities by the two clubs for the impending 2016 Football season.

Hearts/Allies game ends in stalemate

NSA goes hard on occupants of Corporate Boxes at Accra Sports Stadium

The Management of the National Sports Authority (NSA) has descended heavily on occupants of the Corporate Box of the Accra Sports Stadium, after efforts to eject them failed.

Sportscrusader gathers that most of the occupants are occupying the corporate boxes without any form of payment to the NSA, thereby putting undue pressure on the resources of the NSA.

Most of the occupants have been for years without paying any rent or utility bills to the NSA, hence the decision to eject them.

The NSA in a bid to streamline their activities and commercialize some of its properties, sent notices to some occupants of the Corporate Boxes at the Stadium to quit by the end of June 2015.

However, the occupants failed to heed to the warning of the NSA and subsequent for them to vacate by December 31 was also not adhered to.

The NSA according to information reaching sportscrusader had no option than to lock the six out of the eight offices, to forcibly eject the occupants.

A visit to the offices saw most of the offices with locked welded metals hence the occupants were unable to access the office.

Notable among the occupants were, Francis Adjetey Sowah, former vice president of the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) and President of Africa Amputee Football Federation who uses the office as secretariat of the continent body that governs amputee football, Group Captain Gyimah Kwakye, former Security Cordinator of the NSA and Mr. Kuuku Dzanie who uses one of the offices for private purposes.

According to information gathered by the sports crusader, the NSA will renovate the office and rent them out to new clients who are ready to pay for the use of the offices.

NSA goes hard on occupants of Corporate Boxes at Accra Sports Stadium

NSA must be held responsible for power outage - George Amoako

George Amoako, Director of Finance of the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) has said, the National Sports Authority (NSA) should be held responsible for the outage that led to over an hour power outage during the G6 game between Accra Hearts of Oak and Aduana Stars at the Essipong Stadium last Thursday.

Speaking in an interview, he said GHALCA hired and paid for the use of the stadium and it was the responsibility of the NSA to ensure that, everything was in good condition for the competition.

“We paid for every facility at the stadium and it was their responsibility to to it that, the generator was in good condition as well as other facilities.

“They must be held responsible for what happened last night. They are owners of the stadium and we just hired it.” He stated.

He noted that, the organizers are putting in place the needed measures to avoid that incident again as the competition enters the second day.

The match between Hearts and Aduana was temporally halted after the lights at the stadium went off.

It was later restored but the rest of the match was played in an empty stadium as the ended on a barren note.

NSA must be held responsible for power outage - George Amoako