Football the world over has been characterised by various levels of controversy but what happened in Ghana football on Friday night could be classified as a first degree controversy.
Awards were given to undeserved persons while those who fought with valour and dedication, those who strived hard to achieve and those who deserved to be awarded were ignored.
Many people left the Banquet Hall with disappointment written on their foreheads, ready to open up to the media and blast.
I was personally one of those who left the hall disappointed and I got home flummoxed and flabbergasted.
This is not to say I disagreed with all the awards that were given on the night. But some were obviously out of the way.
Three major categories caught my attention and I have been thinking and thinking until my head is earthquaking but I still can't be convinced.
The GFA Cameraman of the Year Paul Abenyega, the assistant referee of the year Haruna Bawa and the best defender of the year Inusah Musah were those that, in my opinion, went the wrong way.
Let me start with the defender of the year award. Before the awards night, I had written an article explaining why Amos Frimping of Asante Kotoko should be the deserved winner of the award. But I was shocked to the marrow when the one all expected to have even placed last in the category emerged the winner. Amazing! Inusah Musah was announced and the entire hall was like a cemetery for some few seconds before it got electrified again.
First of all, I felt that the deserved winner of the award was not even nominated for the category let alone to win it making the race clearer for Amos Frimpong.
"What did Inusah Musah do to get this award? These are some of the things they do for people to say our league is sinking. This is very bad," a Michael Otchere, a colleague journalist retorted.
In my opinion, Wa All Stars defender Abdul Ganiyu was the right person for the award. He played 29 matches and won Most Valuable Player on four occasions. His team conceded the least goals of the season. His CEO was the Best CEO of the season. His coach was the Best Coach of the season. His goalkeeper won the best goalie of the year and above all, Wa All Stars won the team of the season. So the controversial issue here is, why neglect a defender who has protected his team to emerge the best defensive side in the league and the best team, yet he is not even nominated? So ideally, Ganiyu deserved it.
However, since Ganiyu was not even nominated, let's find out why Inusah Musah did not deserve the award.
Now assuming we are only dealing with Amos, Inusah and Bashiru, then Bashiru should have won, even though I still think Amos should have been the winner in the absence of Abdul Ganiyu.
My argument for Bashiru is very simple. He was nominated as the player of the season which is the biggest award for any player. Again he was nominated for the defender of the season. So if he is good enough to be player of the season why can't he win the defender of the season? If Inusah is the best defender, then he should have been in the best player of the season category as well. Out of the 28 matches Abdul Bashiru played for Dreams FC, he was player of the match on nine occasions compared to Inusah Musah who only played 13 times and had player of the match award on 5 occasions but scored two goals.
If we want to say Inusah deserved the award because he had Black Stars call up, then it should have gone to Kadri Mohammed of AshGold. He played 24 matches, won 4 MVPS, scored 1 goal and was the only local outfield player with most Black Stars call ups. Why ignore him? The argument that Inusah had a Black Stars call up has been fairly defeated by the Kadri Mohammed Black Stars call up. If Inusah won because he scored two, Amos scored eight. If he won because he was invited inton the Black Stars, Kadri Mohammed was a regular in the Black Stars.
Now, the second argument for Amos Frimpong is here. Amos played 26 matches for Kotoko, won player of the match on four occasions and scored 8 goals, 9 goals short of the total goals scored by the goal king, 17. In addition to the number of goals scored by Amos, he performed his duties as a great defender, playing in all the back four positions for his club due to his versatility. The goals scored by Amos were just additional attributes of a great technical player and cemented the fact that he deserved the award. The PLB was not honest in their choice for Inusah Musah as the defender of the season.
"This is complete robbery. Everything pointed to the direction of Amos Frimpong. He is the right person to be crowned the defender of the season. What did Inusah do to attract this award? Too bad," the head of communications for Asante Kotoko noted.
Now to the assistant referee of the season. Haruna Bawa winning the award is not my problem but my little challenge is that why nominate Richard Appiah if he won't win it? I am saying this because Appiah was on the line on 17 occasions as compared to Bawa who was there only 12 times. Again, Appiah has been nominated on three consecutive occasions in the category of best assistant referee. And for the third time running, he has lost the award to those who are nominated for the first time. So if he doesn't deserve it on all occasions, then why nominate him? Absolutely irrational. Appiah after the event took to the media and made wild allegations of nepotism, favouritism and tribalism in the leadership of the referees committee of Ghana. This needs proper scrutiny.
"I'll petition the Ghana FA Boss about the nepotism and tribalism that is going on in the referees committee. How can you nominate me on three occasions yet first timers win it award my expense. I knew the award was mine because I had information to that effect. But an insider told me some of the big guns don't like me. They have always been neglecting Kumasi referees," Kumasi-based referee Richard Appiah blasted after the event.
Finally to the GFA Cameraman of the year. I hold nothing against Paul Abenyega but to be honest, he did not even deserve nominations. I need to remind readers that this is a cameraman who could not even capture a goal scored in the Techiman City/Dreams FC clash in the league last season. If Paul is our best, then our worse can't be described.
Good show by the PLB for staging the awards but the right thing must be done next time.
By: Sheikh Tophic Sienu @desheikh1 on twitter