By: Akosua Adjei
Member of Parliament for the New Edubease Constituency in the Ashanti region, Hon. Adams Abdul-Salam has advocated for government to as a matter of urgency refurbish the Accra Sports Stadium to an ultra modern centre which can host competitive games for the domestic league and for national team matches.
The deteriorating state of Ghana’s pitches has been a major talking point in the last couple of months. Especially after the reported ban of the Baba Yara Stadium by the Confederation of African Football after Ghana’s AFCON qualifier against Angola.
Meanwhile the other available pitches including Essipong Stadium, Cape Coast Stadium, Aliu Mahama Stadium and Accra Sports Stadium are not in good conditions to host competitive matches.
In a post match interview afTer Angolans 1-0 victory over Ghana at the Baba Yara Stadium, Angola’s head coach, Pedro Goncalves, lamented about the poor state of the Baba Yara pitch. He said, “A country like Ghana deserves a better stadium, a better pitch for football. They have such talented players.”
This falls in line with Black Stars captain Thomas Partey appealing to the Vice President, His Excellency Mahamaud Bawumia ahead of Ghana’s World Cup qualifier against Central African Republic. The Arsenal star reiterated the players readiness to play for Ghana on good pitches. According to him, ”we are ready. We want to give our best tonight. On behalf of all the players, I have a request, we ask for a good stadium because we want to play better”.
In addition, in a CAF Champions League second round preliminary match between FC Samartex and Raja Athletic Club, at the Accra Sports Stadium, Raja Athletic Club Coach reiterated the unplayable nature of the pitch at the Accra Sports stadium.
“It is not possible to play on this pitch that we played on” Coach Rusmir Cvirko.
In view of this, Hon. Adams Abdul-Salam who is a Board Member of New Ebubease United and a member of the Sports Committee of Parliament has earnestly requested government to turn the terrible nature of the Accra Sports Stadium around. In an interview after the Democracy Cup match, Hon. Abdul Salam said, It’s terrible. It is embarrassing. I was surprised to see how deteriorated nature of the pitch is. This cannot be the pitch where competitive matches are played on. This comes to show why our players perform poorly. So we definitely need an ultra modern stadium”.
According to reports cited by the Ghana Football Associatio, the Baba Yara Stadium has been banned. Hence, the senior national team will have to play their match day 3 and 4 matches at a venue away from Ghana.
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