The Chief Executive Officer of Asante Kotoko, Nana Yaw Amponsah, has called on the National Sports Authority (NSA) and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to put up monuments at every Ghana Premier League venue to remind football fans of the May 9 stadium disaster.
The NSA and GFA together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports held an event on Tuesday to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the May 9 disaster.
The event was to remember the incident that claimed the lives of 127 football fans at the Accra Sports Stadium following a stampede during a Premier League fixture between Hearts of Oak and Kotoko in 2001.
According to Kotoko’s CEO, it’s high time reminders were set at all league venues as some football fans are still used to practising hooliganism 22 years on.
“Hooliganism still continues unabated in our league. Recently, we saw what happened to Tamale City. It’s been happening at various venues. Each of the 22 years that have passed, we have witnessed hooliganism in our league [and] it means we have not learnt from that incident,” he told Joy Sports.
“When it comes to May 9 [aside] the commemoration, this monument [at the Accra Sports Stadium] should be put at every league venue, at every league centre to remind us. There should be something like a signpost to remind us that if you go in and misbehave, what happened 22 years ago can repeat itself.
“I think that should go a long way to help us because we are not acting as if we have learnt from it. That is the unfortunate part.”
Wreaths were laid on behalf of the State, NSA, GFA, Hearts of Oak, Asante Kotoko and the family of the bereaved as part of the 22nd-anniversary commemoration of the incident.