It is unfortunate that the exciting premier league should be marred by crowd violence at some centres towards the end of the tournament. This habit of irate fans destroying stadium seats at the least provocation must be stopped. It is most unsporting and those who destroyed chairs at the Obuasi Len Clay Stadium during the Ashgold-Asante Kotoko penultimate league match on Sunday should be found out and punished.

It is time we made use of the close circuit cameras at the various stadia to trace those sporting hoodlums and ban them from turning our playing fields into grave yards.

Security must be tight at all stadia and the police need nobody to tell them that a few arrests would put fear into all potential trouble makers that they have no right to hold lovers of sports to ransom at the sports centres.

These hooligans did not start misbehaving only yesterday. A couple of weeks ago, supporters of Accra Hearts of Oak rioted and destroyed chairs after their club had been held to a1-1 home draw by Bechem Chelsea. Players of the visiting team were molested and match officials manhandled to the glaring view of television but not a single culprit was sanctioned. No wonder Obuasi fans put up a similar unbecoming behaviour on Sunday.

The Football Association, must as a matter of urgency liaise with the security authorities and put a few culprits before the law courts .I am sure sanity would prevail at the various stadia if such an action is taken.

What happened at Agona Swedru where visiting Sekondi Eleven Wise were molested even hours before kick off should not be tolerated at this 21st century. The fixture has been rescheduled for Wednesday and it is hoped there would be enough security to ensure a trouble free ninety minutes of football. Both teams are relegation threatened and they need the points to survive hence the tension surrounding the fixture.

Eleven Wise are fourth from the bottom with 37 points and All Blacks are last but one from the bottom with 32 points. On top, there is only one more match to go and this is the wrong time to lose points.

Meanwhile life at the top continues to be hectic following the defeat of the renascent Asante Kotoko at Obuasi and Accra Hearts of Oak’s valuable away draw against Berekum Arsenal.

Hearts of Oak now top the table with one point ahead of Kotoko (49-48). Both title contenders have home pairings against contrasting opponents. Kotoko face fourth placed King Faisal eager to qualify for the prestigious Top 4 tournament whilst Hearts face relegation certainties Sporting Mirren. It would be interesting to see whether Mirren will be interested to spoil the party for Hearts who are clearly in a favourable position to win the league title King Faisal may also love to dent further Kotoko’s meteoric rise in the second round of the league.

From all indications, the 2009 premier league would go down ion history as tight encounter at the top reminiscent of the 1979 tournament when Accra Hearts of Oak beat Asante Kotoko in a photo finish 51-50 points with Dumas Boys of GTP a distant third on 40 points.

Truly football does repeat itself. Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.

From My Archives July 14th

July 14th 1995: Former Ghana national super bantamweight boxing champion Rocky Commey died at dawn when he was knocked down by a mini bus near the Korle Bu Bridge in Accra during an early morning workout.