Let’s give Accra Lions the club of the moment for the whole week. Let us deliberate on their seven-sentence statement that fully summarizes the state of football in Ghana. Let us credit the club for being bold and officially expressing their displeasure with the happenings in football in the country.
Accra Lions is a very small club based in Accra. The 2024-25 season is their 4th consecutive season at the upper echelon of Ghanaian football.
The club finished second behind winners Samartex in the Ghana Premier League in the 2023-24 season—it is probably their best achievement so far as a club. David Oduro, who is currently at Barcelona B on a season-long loan, is another huge achievement by the club.
The club is not as popular as Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Accra Heart of Oak, the dead Ahanti Gold Sporting Club, or the struggling Accra Great Olympics, but it has done what the aforementioned humongous clubs have failed to do over the years.
Accra Lions’ Statement on Ghana Football in toto
“We owe it a duty to our fans, the football community and the public to express our concern about recent developments in the Ghanaian football landscape.
In our opinion, the results at the international level are a reflection of the development at the local level.
We are playing our fourth season in Ghana’s top division and unfortunately, we have to admit that the conditions are steadily deteriorating.
There is now no sponsor for the league, nor has a television contract been negotiated at this point.
How will the league ever acquire sponsors again if refereeing performances like yesterday’s become the standard and any criticism is immediately sanctioned by the association?
Lots of incidents and happenings have gone unattended, an experience that has left us with more questions than answers.
Such tendencies continue to chip away every sense of the definition of the trust our esteemed fans and the public have reposed in us”.
What led to Accra Lions’ statement?
Week 16 of the Ghana Premier League was laden with mouthwatering fixtures. One of them was Dreams FC’s clash against Accra Lions. The game was simply a relegation six-pointer. Accra Lions was sitting in 16th position, a place above opponents Dreams FC. Both had won 13 points so the game at the Tuba Astroturf was always going to be a tough contest.
The crucial game was never going to end without controversies as Edmond Amakye was shown a second yellow card by referee Maxwell Hanson in the 66th minute. The 17-year-old midfielder, Amakye, had earlier in the 12th minute been booked so the second resulted in a red card.
Dreams took advantage of the numerical advantage and landed the knockout blow through Kelvin Ahiable’s 71st-minute strike. There was no way back for Accra Lions with a man down. The Still Believe went home with the three points helping them to move out of the relegation zone.
Accra Lions have blamed Hanson for deliberately robbing them at Tuba. Reports say there were no cameras to record whatever transpired there, meaning they have no proof of being cheated.
ROBBERY IN TUBA. What does it mean?
#RobberyInTuba has been trending since Monday on all Social Media platforms with Ghanaian football fans expressing their disappointment with what is transpiring in football in Ghana. What happened in Tuba with no cameras could be described as robbery. Dreams FC is a bona fide property of Ghana Football Association president, Kurt Okraku, so playing against them in that circumstance will always create controversies and confusion. Accra Lions feel cheated and robbed leading to the hashtag RobberyInTuba.
Time for Ghanaian Clubs to speak out against abnormalities in Ghana Football
Clubs have not complained bitterly enough about the state of the league. Nobody knows why they have kept quiet for 16 weeks in the sponsorship-less league. The first round will end soon but clubs do not know what they will earn at the end of the season. Where is the broadcasting deal? The league have been poorly shown on television. The coverage looks like 1966 AFCON videos, so outdated and unattractive yet clubs have not officially questioned the FA.
The clubs feel they can cater for themselves but that idea is the biggest lie of the entire 2024-25 GPL season. Asante Kotoko is the most followed football club in Ghana. The Porcupine Warriors have failed to let know their unhappiness with the state of the GPL. Accra Hearts of Oak is the second most followed club in Ghana. The 2000 treble winners have been pushed out of the Accra Sports Stadium and are now playing at the University of Ghana Sports Stadium, Phobia has remained quiet meaning they are happy with everything in Ghana Football.
Ace sports broadcaster Ibrahim Sannie Daara posted Accra Lions’ logo on X accompanied by the message, ” I stand with Accra Lions”.
The message simply means he is not happy at all with how things are been handled in Ghanaian Football and is in support of Accra Lions.
Kotoko’s crucial visit to Tarkwa against Medeama also created confusion with the Mauve and Yellow making it clear that they were not going to allow the game to be shown live by any media house. This was not the first time this has happened- Berkum Chelsea’s visit of Asante Kotoko to the Berekum City Park also was not shown live on TV. The Berekum club decided to not allow the game to be live on TV because they have not agreed terms with anyone to show the game.
We are in 2025 but the GPL’s organization looks like we are in 1998 when GBC was struggling to cover our league so well.
All the clubs must be bold like Accra Lions and demand fairness and also express their displeasure when things are not right. Massive Kudos to Accra Lions for creating awareness of all the other 17 clubs competing in the Ghana Premier League.
