By: Sheikh Tophic Sienu @desheikh1
Controversies come in our everyday life which has become synonymous with the ethos of our normal professions.
Football is one of the professions which has recently condoned much controversies from administration to technical head and to the playing body as well.
Coiling it down to the local game, the controversies that entangled the game over the year was so much to point among players who much of football action engulf.
In one way or the other, those controversies by the players lightened up the local game in whatever way you might take it from.
Some of the controversies from the players caused fear and shivers in their club's administration. Other controversies too belittled the intelligence of club supporters not to add those that seemed to suggest unfairness in substitution of a player from a coach in a football match.
All these controversies came with major headlines throughout the major sports tabloids across the country which gave a bit attention to the local game thereby giving it the required mileage to lighting up the local game.
We take a look at the four players in the 2015 Ghana Premier League whose actions in one way or the other sparked controversy in the football industry.
AHMED TOURE: The Burkinabe came back to Ghana to re-lunch his career last year with Accra Hearts of Oak where he was given the opportunity to don the jerseys of the Rainbow colours to test his fitness for the Phobians.
His exploits could not be doubted as he scored in a top four match against Medeama SC at the Accra Sports Stadium to send hopes to the "never say die" supporters of good things to come in the year.
A few days afterwards, the deadly striker sparked the train of controversy when he was whisked away by arch-rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko when negotiation broke down with Accra Hearts of Oak for his service.
The Kumasi-based club offered him a plot of land and a luxury car to entice him for his signature. "I went to Hearts of Oak because I wanted to play for them, and I showed it in the matches I played as I played my hearts out, he said. But along the line negotiations broke down and I found myself in Kotoko. It wasn't a deliberate action, but like I said earlier, I am a businessman and will go along with any club that will satisfy my terms." said Ahmed Toure after ditching Hearts for Kotoko.
The naturally characterized controversial character after joining the Porcupine Warriors increased the acceleration of the controversial train when he left the club in the middle of the season when the club needed him most for trials with a club in Lebanon. The deal was almost sealed later got abrogated due to some unfulfilled conditions.
Toure reinforced the controversy by deciding not to return to the Reds as reports emerged that he was on trials with some unnamed clubs in France and Belgium. Even though Toure came out to clear the air that he was attending to his sick son in France, the fact still remains that he was not part of the team’s pre-season.
The controversial Burkinabe top it all with his refusal to return to the Kumasi-based side after leaving for international duty. The Porcupine Family waited impatiently for over a month into pre-season and decided to leave him out of their registered players for the 2015/16 season.
Toure’s controversial moves ignited the league and we ask, will the upcoming season miss his controversial character as we brace up for one of the most competitive seasons ever.
Obviously, Gilbert Fiamenyo was arguably the most mentioned and garrulous player in the sports media for the year 2015 in the local game.
Winning the best player for the month of January in 2015's First Capital Plus Premier League after the finishing the league with 8 goals, the bulky striker has had many controversies that cuts across all football departments.
He was notably known for insulting Hearts of Oak fans when they chastised and lampooned him as the orchestra of the clubs woes. "Some fans of Hearts of Oak are fools, they don't reason at all. They are accusing me of almost everything that goes wrong at the club," They have forgotten so soon that I was one of the best players in the first round of the season, and all of a sudden, I am the reason for the club's woes. Some of the supporters don't know anything about football; they sit in their villages and call into radio stations to lambast me, some take to Facebook and write anything on their walls without any grounds,” hope you will remember these famous quotes from Fiamenyo.
Fiamenyo also blasted and lambasted the management of the club for tarnishing his hard won image when he refused to be associated with a tape leakage that went viral on the down fall of the club which prompted the further suspension of some Hearts of Oak players.
Fiamenyo’s controversial comments continued when he took a heavy swipe at the management of the club for claiming they have terminated his contract saying he had no contract with the club to be terminated. the controversial and outspoken Fiamenyo openly accused the management of not ‘knowing’ their job as he had no contract with the club to be terminated.
Comments made by Fiamenyo during the period of the management’s claims of transfer-listing him and the controversial tape of plotting to sink the club created oceans of controversies all over the football family as they were least expected of him.
A season that had been wishy-washy for the club swinging at an uncomfortable position on the league log receiving the outcry from the vociferous fans, Yaya Mohammed denigrated the quality of players at his former club to the lowest ebb with his comments that did not go down well with the playing body when the club laid tenth on the league log.
"Most of the players do not deserve to wear the Kotoko jersey. The players are not matured and do not have the requisite mental toughness to don the red colours. Today, any player plays for Kotoko but I can tell you that apart from Jordan Opoku, Michael Akuffo and Ahmed Toure, none of the players deserves to wear the Kotoko jersey. The problem of the club is not about the management or board; it is the playing body. Most people are scared to say it but I will point it out. The coach has done nothing wrong. It is the players who do not deserve to play for the club.”
Hope you remember the comments above? They were made by Yaya Moahmmed. Yaya appeared right when eleven of the players were transfer-listed after the season.
Yaya’s controversial comments did not end there as he famously placed Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan ahead of Barcelona and Argentina wizard Lionel Messi and Portugal and Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
Yaya Mohammed came out loudly to heap praises on much-maligned Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan to the extent of noting that he is better than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi per their national team credentials. Yaya argued that Gyan has already bagged in six World Cup goals ahead of Messi's four and Ronaldo's three.
“What Asamoah Gyan is doing here in Ghana is far better than that of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. But sadly we don’t respect him because he is a Ghanaian. I shall always rate Asamoah Gyan ahead of the two because if Gyan had been an European, he would have been highly recognized than the two. So why don’t I respect my own and help him to spurt on? We must begin to respect our own. Looking at their developments, Gyan did not even play in an academy but Messi has been with Barcelona since infancy and Ronaldo has been with Sporting Lisbon Academy in Portugal before joining the senior side and subsequently to Manchester United. So if Gyan had even played an academy and gotten the opportunities they have, Gyan would have been catastrophic by now.” That is Mr. Yaya Mohammed for you.
This particular comment received bashing from lovers of the two most outstanding players in Europe for the past decade but the strong rasta-haired midfielder insisted that his captain is better than the two no matter the vilification.
ISSAH MUMUNI. One of the talented footballers in the local game was at the center of controversy last year with his famous tap recording that became a topic for discussion in the daily discourse of the sports media.
Mumuni was substituted by Herbert Addo in their Premier League game against Hasaacas at the Accra Sports Stadium but was caught on camera picking and throwing bottles on the bench when he went off the pitch angry without greeting coach Herbert Addo.
As a 23-year-old player, he made name off the field negatively than establishing himself on the pitch for Hearts of Oak with the tape right after the Hasaacas match, as he had exiguous number of matches last year.
Players of the club, prior to the incident, were not paid their bonuses for 16 weeks which infuriated the former Dreams FC player to go on tape recording that if the club do not pay them (players) well, how then do the management expect them to play their hearts out. The comment attracted a suspension of 30 days for the hard tackling youngster.
Although Issah Mumuni apologized through a written statement to the club expressing a regret of his actions and inactions, the club responded, noting their stand on his actions by condemning the act through a written statement.
Even though Issah Mumuni was chastised by many people for the comments on the tape, many lauded him for boldly pointing it out to the management about the ill-mannered style they were managing the club.