Church Activity Disrupts Ghana Premier League

The new Ghana Premier League season is facing its first fixture challenge after a league game was rescheduled to make way for a church service.

The Professional League Board will now have to look for a new date for the game between Berekum Chelsea and Elmina Sharks because the Golden City Park has been rented out by the Municipal Assembly to the Church of Pentecost for an Easter service on Wednesday.

The Professional League Board has not communicated a new date for the game, with the weekend and midweek fixture schedule full between now and the end of May.

Most Ghana Premier League clubs, including Berekum Chelsea, use facilities belonging to the state in a revenue-share agreement for league games.

They increasingly have to bid for the venues with churches, for the most part, who pay more competitive rates.

This latest episode has left question marks over the GFA’s handling of fixtures again, but they insist this is purely down to Berekum Chelsea.

“We approved a venue for Berekum Chelsea and they knew there was a midweek fixture once we approved the new scheduled,” league spokesman Tamimu Issah told KweséESPN, “but they only wrote to us on Monday that the venue is unavailable for a game on Wednesday.

“Under the circumstances there was very little we could do so it is unfair to mock the GFA for this.”

The GPL kick-off was postponed several times after Accra Great Olympics took the Ghana Football Association to court regarding outstanding disciplinary cases from last term.

By: Michael Oti Adjei, KweséESPN