FEATURE: DC’s delay over Hearts hooliganism verdict – who is to blame?

By: Sheikh Tophic Sienu @desheikh1 on twitter

Three days after Hearts played Wa All Stars at the Accra Sports Stadium, Opare Addo and Barimah Atuahene were invited by the Ethics Committee of the Ghana FA for utterances they made before the clash.

They were charged for inciting their fans against the match officials which sparked acts of hooliganism at the stadium during the game.

The club was also charged for the violent acts by the fans during that game.

Some of us felt really proud of the Disciplinary Committee of the FA because they were apt in their responses to issues that had been raised before them while the league is ongoing.

Sadly however, the issue has been before the Disciplinary Committee for close to a month without a ruling when similar acts by Berekum Arsenal and Bibiani Gold Stars took less than two weeks for their rulings.

Is it because Hearts is involved or it is a matter of the DC demonstrating their incompetence?

After conducting some investigations, I realized that there are two chambers in the DC, notably ‘A’ and ‘B’.

The excuse is that the Hearts of Oak case is with the ‘B’ Chamber while the ‘A’ Chamber, chaired by Lawyer Prosper Harrison Addo, was in charge of all the cases that have been handled already.

So the question again is, why did the General Secretary of the Ghana FA decide to refer the Hearts case to the ‘B’ Chamber instead of the reliable ‘A’ Chamber?

Now everyone is pointing at the Ghana FA for the delay in coming out with the ruling which in my opinion is fair because the FA is the mother body of football in the country.

In specificity, the DC must be blamed for the delay but why is it that one chamber that has performed creditably in responding to disciplinary issues was neglected in this particular instance.

The 2015/16 Ghana Premier League, the Division One League and the MTN FA Cup all started in February this year and all the cases that have been referred to the Prosper Harrison Addo committee been given the proper hearing and rulings have been passed.

In all, 13 cases of protests, 9 cases of misconduct and 1 case of stay of execution have been referred to the Prosper Harrison Addo-led committee [Chamber A].

Disciplinary Committee A -

Protests Cases

1. *Kotoku Royals vrs King Solomon - MTN FA Cup
2. *Tarkwa United vrs Dunkwa United - DOL
3. Berekum Arsenals vrs *RTU - DOL
4. *Manya Red Lions vrs Ho Hunters - MTN FA Cup
5. *Agbozume United vrs Home Stars - MTN FA Cup
6. Cape Coast Metro vrs *Great Astronomers - MTN FA Cup
7. *Union FC vrs Mighty Royals of WR - MTN FA Cup
8. Bolga All Stars vs *Tamale All Stars - DOL (dismissed)
9. *Cornerstone vrs Dunkwa United - DOL
10. *Nzema Kotoko vrs Dunkwa United - DOL
11. *Power Sporting Club vrs Nsuatre - MTN FA Cup
12. Agbozume Utd vrs *Accra Youth FC - MTN FA Cup
13. *Real Tamale United vrs Rainbow FC - MTN FA Cup

* shows the winner

So 13 Protest cases have been done so far.

Now to Misconduct Cases

1. Berekum Arsenals - home ban and fine

2.AshGold assistant coach - dismissed

3. Ashanti Gold SC - fine
4. Bibiani Gold Stars- 10 matches ban and fine
5. Bibiani Gold Stars player - 1 year ban
6. Bechem United- fine
7. Inter Allies- fine
8. Player - Seidu Nuhu Issahak(Imam A Sidik) - dismissed
9. Berekum Arsenals- MTN FA Cup- fine GHc5000

On Stay of Execution the ‘A’ Chamber has done 1

1. Bibiani Gold Stars filed for a stay after theyr 10-match ban but the application was dismissed.

So who is to blame for the delay in releasing the verdict?

Why at all was the matter referred to the 'B' Chamber of the DC?