Asante Kotoko recorded another first by winning the league for the fourth consecutive time.
Indeed, they crowned a glorious season by also winning the African Cup for champion clubs for the second time beating Al Ahly of Egypt 1-0 in Kumasi after a goalless draw in Cairo in the first leg.
It was the second year running that Kotoko had been billed to meet Al Ahly in the finals.
In the previous year Al Ahly beat Kotoko 3-0 in the first leg in Cairo and drew 1-1 in the return match in Kumasi.
The season saw the GFA, for the first time, introducing compulsory transfer fees to be paid for the services of players changing clubs. Black Star players attracted GH¢ 100,000; Black Meteors GH¢ 75,000; First Division GH¢ 50,000; Division Two GH¢ 35,000; Division Three GH¢ 15,000 and Division Four, GH¢ 5,000.
The GFA collected the transfer fees and paid them to the affected clubs before issuing out registration cards. Clubs unable to pay transfer fees were sanctioned, as happened to Sekondi Eleven Wise who were not allowed to play their opening league match against Olympics and lost the points. They later paid the transfer fees courtesy the newly appointed chairman John Ackay Blay Miezah, a business tycoon.
Interestingly, before the league started the Central Revenue Department issued a circular reminding the clubs that payments made to players to entice them to change teams are liable to tax under Gift Tax Decree 1975 (NRCD 348). It is doubtful whether clubs paid any attention to this announcement.
The season started on Feb 6 with the two traditional giants Kotoko and Hearts both losing their matches. Kotoko were beaten 2-1 by Hasaacas at Gyandu. John Essien got both goals for Hasaacas and John Bannerman scored for Kotoko from the penalty spot.
Hearts lost 3-1 to Olympics in a local derby. Emmanuell Botwe gave Hearts a 1-0 half time lead and Olympics fought back gamely in the second half to rattle in three goals through Abdul Aziz (50) Karimu Alhassan (56) and Ben Kayede (69).
Other interesting results were B. A. United 1 Standfast 3; Cornerstone 2 Wise 0. Bofoakwa, back to the first division after four years’ absence, shocked Olympics with a 1-0 defeat at Accra Stadium in the third week. Powerhouse Kwasi Owusu headed home the matchwinner in the 42nd minute.
Kotoko came into the news on Feb 18 when club chairman Yaw Bawuah announced the compulsory retirement of skipper Opoku Afriyie. No official reasons were given for the action but it was later learnt that the skipper was axed from the team for being a bad influence on the players.
Interestingly, a few days after Afriyie’s dismissal, Kotoko moved to the top of the table with a classic 3-0 win over Standfast in Kumasi. Other results of note in the week were Standfast 0 Hearts 0; B. A. United 2 Bofoakwa 2.
Disaster struck the league on March 13 when Hasaacas goalkeeper Samuel Entsuah died on the spot in a motor accident near Elmina when Hasaacas were on their way to Swedru for a league match against All Blacks. Thirteen (13) players of the team were admitted at Cape Coast hospital and discharged after a week.
The GFA declared all matches involving Hasaacas outstanding to enable the players recover from the mishap.
The ‘Giants of the West’, as Hasaacas were affectionately known, returned to action on April 10 and beat Standfast 3-0 in Accra. In two outstanding matches, Hasaacas beat RTU 3-2 in Sekondi and lost 2-1 to Bofoakwa at Sunyani.
This was not before the big news on March 30 when GFA Chairman Zac Bentum resigned from his post “for personal reasons”.
He was immediately replaced by Samuel
Ackah-Yensu, another veteran football administrator and GFA member.
A few weeks later Dr. John Atta Mills, chairman of the National Sports Council also resigned “for personal reasons”.
He later became Prof Atta Mills, President of Ghana unfortunately he died in office on Tuesday July 24, 2012.
As if in a season of resignations, Asante Kotoko chairman Yaw Bawuah tendered his resignation letter to the club’s chief patron Asantehene Nana Opoku Ware11 on June 12 with the reason that he wanted to maintain peace and harmony in the club because some disgruntled elements in the club for no apparent reasons were calling for his dismissal. His resignation was however rejected by the Asantehene and Yaw
Bawuah remained in office to lead Kotoko to win the Africa Cup for the second time on Dec 12.
After a brief suspension of the league to make room for WAFU matches involving Olympics and Hasaacas, the newsmakers were Accra Hearts who beat RTU in Tamale for the first time and followed it up with a 4-3 win over Kotoko in Kumasi to smash their unbeaten home record.
Hearts won the Tamale match 2-1 with Sam Yeboah scoring both goals. Anane Kobo got the consolation for RTU.
In Kumasi, Hearts took a commanding 3-0 lead at half time against Kotoko through Botwe and Sam Yeboah (2). There was drama in the second half as Opoku Nti scored three rapid goals by the 79th minute to tie 3-3, however, Hesse Odamtten’s last minute header from Ansuade’s free kick won the day for Hearts.
Meanwhile, Hasaacas kept their unbeaten home record with a neat 2-0 win over Cornerstone, and Eleven Wise got their first away win 1-0 at the expense of Standfast thanks to Yaw Asamoah’s 35th minute goal.
An inspired Eleven Wise won their next match 2-1 against Kotoko at Gyandu, Hearts beat State Traders 1-0 at Swedru and Bofoakwa drew 1-1 with relegation haunted Standfast at Sunyani.
The 19th week saw league leaders Kotoko emerging top scorers by beating Bofoakwa 5-1 in Kumasi as second placed Hasaacas kept the pace with a 2-0 home win over State Traders. Sam Ayippey and Francis Edzie were the scorers.
The league was put off in the 20th week on Oct 9 to cater for various international matches involving the Black Stars, Kotoko’s Africa Cup engagements and WAFU (West Africa Football Union) fixtures between Hasaacas and Olympics.
The Black Stars were eliminated by Nigeria in the semi-finals of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic qualifying series; Kotoko beat Jaraafs of Senegal in the Africa Cup series and Hasaacas eliminated Olympics 1-0 from the WAFU Cup but lost the finals to New Nigerian Bank on 2-0 aggregate (2-0 in Lagos and 0-0 in Kumasi).
At the time the league was suspended with two more games to go, Kotoko had an unassailable lead of 32 points followed by Hasaacas. As the Oct 30 deadline for the submission of champion clubs to CAF (Confederation of African Football) was getting nearer the GFA submitted the name of Kotoko but gave the assurance that the league would be completed because of the promotion and demotion exercise.
The Organisation of League Clubs Association (OGLCA) had different ideas and called for the cancellation of the league. This was disputed by the five top clubs in the league table-Kotoko, Hasaacas, Olympics, Hearts and Wise. Confusion thus arose. At a meeting with the GFA on Nov 11 it was decided to go ahead with the league and the competition ended on Nov 20.
For State Traders of the Ghana National Trading Company (GNTC), it was a disastrous debut in the elite first division and, together with Standfast, who could no longer stand fast after a brilliant performance in 1982, went into relegation.
Standfast’s handicap was that they lost a number of their key players, notably Ebo Mends and Yahya Kassum, to the other clubs.
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.
Credit: By Ken Bediako
