The Black Queens’ participation in the maiden edition of the Aisha Buhari Invitational Women’s Football Tournament is in abeyance after the playing body failed to turn up for camping.
On Friday, head coach of the team, Mercy Tagoe handed call-up to 30 players to report to camp on Sunday, August 29 at the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Technical Centre (GSCE) in Prampram.
Howbeit, defender Portia Boakye revealed that the players failed to show up after they were informed that there’s no money involved in the tournament.
“Yes it’s true,” Portia Boakye confirmed to Ghanasportspage.com. As a worker, you are to be paid for what you do so we called our head coach (Mercy Tagoe) and told her to find out from authorities if we are taking per diem in the tournament we are going to play in Nigeria”
“She told us she has had a meeting with the authorities and they told her that, there’s no pesewa in it so we (foreign and local players) also decided to boycott camping since there’s nothing for us.
“Imagine if some of the locals borrowed money to buy boots or used as transportation to report to camping and you are going to camp us for months, you later release us and give us nothing, how is that player going to settle her debt?, she quizzed.
“All the players took this decision but the problem is, we don’t have numbers of the new players so they’ve not been contacted yet but even if they report, for us, we are not going until we fight for what’s ours because we can’t work without them paying us” Portia told ghanasportspage.com.
As it stands, it remains unclear whether the team will find a resolution with the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and report to camp to continue preparations for the tournament.
The Aisha Buhari tournament is scheduled for September 13 to 21 in Lagos, Nigeria.
Ghana have been drawn in Group B alongside the Indomitable Lioness of Cameroon and the Banyana Banyana of South Africa.
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