A former chairman of the Ghana Football Association Nana Sam Brew-Butler has warned against any rush decision to resume football leagues.
He advised football administrators to carefully weigh the risks involved in restarting competitions in the face of the rising cases of COVID-19.
He said the present conditions did not make a strong case for the resumption of organised competitions since there were clear and present dangers which clubs and the football authorities needed to deal with before the green light was given for the return of sporting events.
The Ghana Football Association (GFA), through its medical committee, has met with the government’s COVID-19 team and presented a proposal on how football could return possibly in an empty stadium and in a manner that was safe for all participants.
Nonetheless, there has been pressure from football club administrators for the league to return since the GFA on March 15 announced a suspension of all competitions in line with a directive by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to put on hold all social gatherings and sporting events in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interview with GTV Sports+, Nana Brew-Butler sounded the warning bells that it was not safe to return at this moment and advised football administrators to put the health of their players over all other considerations.
“All the precautions are being taken [by the state and stakeholders in the health sector] so why do they want to annul it. I have a lot of sons playing football but I would stop them from playing should football return looking at the situation,” advised the Executive Director of Ghana Premier League side, Ebusua Dwarfs.
According Nana Brew-Butler, if the clubs were itching to get the games to return at the various league centres and the GFA could guarantee the safety of all the players and match officials, he would support the idea.
“Although other leagues in Europe have started without spectators, we need to learn from what they have done and take key lessons from it before we can do something about starting the games.”
<<Print>>