Ghana Premier League side WAFA has been fined an amount of GHc1000 in accordance with Article 16(2) of the Premier League Regulations (2019).
This decision was taken by the Disciplinary Committee after Great Olympics protested against WAFA for using an unregistered strip in their Ghana Premier League Matchday 7 encounter.
According to Great Olympics’ protest, the goalkeeper in post for WAFA played in an unregistered green hose/stockings i.e green instead of gray for the first half and changed to blue black in the second half in contravention with Article 16(1)(a).
Great Olympics claimed that the offense is punishable by forfeiture of the match in accordance with Article 33(1)(i) and Article 33(4)(b) of the Premier League Regulations.
However the Disciplinary Committee made the following findings and decided as follows:
This Committee finds as follows:
That on Monday, December 23, 2019, the Competitions Department of the GFA emailed the compiled list of Declared Strips of all clubs to all Premier League Clubs. The email asked clubs to inform if they are any discrepancies within a stipulated period.
That WAFA amended their strips upon receipt of the email to the clubs.
That on the day of the said match, WAFA presented their amended strip at the Pre-Match Technical meeting. It is noted that there was no protest or contention with regards to the strip declaration of WAFA strip at this stage.
That the Start list which was generated by the Competition’s Department for the match in question assigned the following colours to WAFA:
Outfield Players – WHITE, WHITE and WHITE
Goal Keeper – GREEN, GREEN and BLUE BLACK
That the Goalkeeper for WAFA appeared in Green hose/stockings for the first half but reverted to the correctly registered stockings, Blue Black in the second half.
That though the goalkeeper erroneously wore a green hose, he rectified it in the second half and wore the properly registered “Blue Black” hose/stockings.
Also per the Referees report, the Committee finds that WAFA made a request to change for their GK 2 to replace GK 1 on the start list due to an injury the GK 1 sustained during warm up.
The Disciplinary Committee states in its findings that it is wary that the Match Officials failed to perform their duties fully and professionally on the said Matchday to ensure that the Goalkeeper was in the right hose until the correction in the second half of the match.
Also the Disciplinary Committee also found that the gravity of the situation of an erroneous hose in a first half of a match does not meet the high standard of the purposeful approach which should warrant forfeiture in the modern Ghanaian game to alter the result of a competitive match.
The Committee however that WAFA is caught by Article 16(2) of the Premier League Regulations for violating Article 16(1)(c) of the same regulations on when to use reverse strips. The said Article 16(2) of the Premier League Regulations which states that:
“Any Club which contravenes clause 1(a), 1(b) and 1(c) of this Article shall be liable to a fine of One Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHc1000.00)”.
DECISION
That for breaching Article 16(2) of the Premier League Regulations, WAFA is fined One Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,000.00) payable to the GFA within 14 days upon receipt of this Ruling.
That should any party be dissatisfied with or aggrieved by this Decision, the party has within one (1) days of being notified of this Ruling to appeal to the Appeals Committee of the Ghana Football Association {See Article 35(10) of the Premier League Regulations of the GFA}.
