Great Olympics’ quest to play in the Ghana Premier League suffered another embarrassing setback on Thursday when the court dismissed their quest for an injunction on the start of the competition, clearing the path for the top-flight matches to commence.
The judge ruled that the court lacks the jurisdiction to hear the matter, insisting that it’s an internal matter that the Ghana FA judicial processes should handle.
The ruling by the court is similar to what FIFA said when Olympics approached the world governing body which also asked the club to abide by the dictates of the GFA judicial processes.
This leaves Olympics in a big quagmire as the Disciplinary Committee of the GFA had already dealt with the case and rejected the claims of the Accra-based side after FIFA rejected their claims.
This is the second time the court has rebuffed the Accra-based side’s request for the league to be delayed over their ambitious request to play in the Ghana Premier League despite their relegation.
The decision by the judge to dismisses the injunction request from Accra Great Olympics paves the way for the start of the Premier League this weekend.
The Accra-based club applied for a second injunction pending an appeal to prevent the Ghana Premier League from starting without Olympics.
However, their request was snubbed by the judge who ruled that their claim has no basis to prevent the start of the league.
The Wonder Club wanted a court injunction on the commencement of the 2017/18 campaign claiming the Disciplinary Committee of the GFA failed to give them a fair hearing in their protest filed against Bechem United after fielding an unqualified player.
The Disciplinary Committee rejected the claim by Olympics on two counts saying the quest for boardroom points cannot be granted as the protest was out of time.
The GFA rules state that a protest must be made within three days of the match being played but Olympics made their request SEVEN MONTHS after the game.
Their petition was also thrown out because there is nothing like a petition in the federation’s laws in the quest for points.
A disguised request by Olympics, masquerading as a supporter of the club, to have the matter heard by FIFA was also snubbed by the world governing body.
FIFA said Olympics must submit itself to the ruling of the Disciplinary Committee of the GFA and also slammed the request to have FIFA Disciplinary Codes implemented in the matter.
According to the Article 21 Clause 1 sub Clause 4 of the GFA statues which stipulates that clubs that fail to exhaust all internal modes of conflict resolution and seek redress at the court of law shall be expelled from the league.
The long drawn legal battle in courtroom was initially ruled by Justice Anthony Yeboah, a justice of the High Court, who rejected the first application by Olympics for an injunction on the league.
The start of the 2017/2018 Ghana Premier League season was postponed for the second time following the second application of injunction by Accra Great Olympics.
By: Reuben Obodai
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