Bechem United head coach Kassim Mingle has accused the Ghana Football Association (GFA) of unfair treatment against ‘smaller clubs’ in the league by bending the rules to favour the players of big clubs in their administration of justice regarding player conducts.
Kassim has been speaking to ghanasportspage.com in reaction to disciplinary sanctions taken against Bechem United defender Samuel Osei Kuffour, after the defender was found guilty of misconduct committed in a premier league match involving the Hunters and Asante Kotoko in the ongoing premier league season.
Kuffour was fined a fee of GHC1,000.00, and handed a two-game ban for his conduct where he “intentionally kick player number 11 of Asante Kotoko SC (Frank Thierry Etouga Mbella) in an off-ball situation, an action which in the opinion of the association is an improper behavior and likely to bring the game into disrepute.”
Asked of his opinion on the ruling by the Disciplinary Committee (DC) of the GFA, Mingle lamented over what he believes is a selective justice and double standard approach by the DC of the GFA, who he alleges, feeds on social media embellishments of incidents involving players of smaller clubs to impose draconian punishments on them. Mingle has no qualms with the sanctions handed his player Osei Kuffour, but expressed worry over the fact that players of the ‘big clubs’ commit same or similar offences and mostly go unpunished.
“They (the DC/GFA) always treat the smaller clubs unfairly; that’s what they do”, Kassim Mingle alleged, speaking to ghanasportspage.com.
“When the players of the big clubs do something they don’t talk about it, but when a small club’s player does it then they hype it on social media, then they take some measures against them. The players of the big clubs do more serious things than what these smaller clubs’ players do but when they do nobody talks about it, which is not fair”, he alleged.
According to coach Mingle, the Asante Kotoko player in question, Frank Thierry Mbella Etouga jumped and gave the Bechem United defender [Samuel Osei Kuffour] a heavy knock to the head, but nobody deemed it fit to speak about that incident, but found the need to hype the subsequent response from Kuffour, which was picked by the FA to take a ”panicking decision” against the Bechem United player.
“In that particular match, the Kotoko player jumped and gave him [Osei Kuffour] a karate to the head, he was admitted to the hospital but nobody hyped it, nobody talked about it. But when somebody gave him a double stamp and he subsequently stamped him, that is what they put on social media and you [the media] hyped it that has made the FA take sanctions against him which is not fine”, he lamented.
To Kassim, the DC relies on social media hyping of incidents to take decisions, and they bend the rules to favour the players of the big clubs.
“They bend the rules; when it’s a small club they treat the player different, when it’s the so-called big clubs then they treat the player differently which is not fair. For them they base on social media, when people hype it then they pick it. This one for instance nobody filed a complaint, it was on social media and they picked it.
In our game against [Asante] Kotoko, out player beat their player who was the last man, Asante Kotoko captain [referring to Ishamail Abdul-Ganiyu], he left the ball and brought our player down, nobody talked about it. He was not even given a red card – they did not give him the red card but nobody talked about it. If it were a player of a smaller club, like….” he bemoaned .
It’s been going in so many matches, not this one alone but nobody hypes it. Because it’s a big club people hype it on social media then the FA is also panicking to take a decision, which is not fair”, he maintained.
Mingle clarified, that he does not have a problem with the GFA taking sanctions against misconducts of persons, but only if it will be extended to other players and the justice is served on the basis of equity, he will have no problem.
