Deputy Chief Executive Officer of AshantiGold SC, Albert Commey Aryeetey has apologized and retracted his Ghana Premier League (GPL) match-fixing allegations.
The experienced administrator who also serves a Match Commissioner for Caf, in an interview with Sunyani-based Space FM, boldly claimed last Monday that four of the final day games in the just-ended 2021/22 season were manipulated.
The games included that of his side AshantiGold’s visit to Bibiani GoldStars which decided the goal king race. Miners winger Yaw Annor scored a first half brace beat Kotoko’s Franck Etouga Mbella to the top scorer feat with 22 goals.
The other games were Hearts of Oak’s shock 4-1 home defeat to RTU, as well as King Faisal and Eleven Wonders’ victories over Legon Cities and Aduana FC respectively.
“The Ghana Premier League was competitive but [I] wasn’t happy with the final day because there were lots of fixed games. RTU never won any match away. AshantiGold vs Bibiani Gold Stars was fixed. Wonders vs Aduana was fixed. King Faisal vs Legon Cities was fixed.
“Normally when it gets to that time, clubs want to survive. FA doesn’t know about it. How do you think Hearts of Oak will lose by four goals? Did you watch them yesterday? We shouldn’t be hypocrites or we won’t progress. I’m a Hearts fan, I’m telling you,” Commey said in the radio interview which has since gone viral.
But after a huge backlash and subsequent summon by the Ghana Football Association’s Ethics Committee, Mr. Commey has issued a communique through his Facebook account retracting the comments.
Read in full:
“I have come to the realization that the interview granted to an FM station in Sunyani recently has generated a lot of controversy among the football fraternity, especially the clubs whose names I mentioned in the said interview.
“My intention for granting that interview was to contribute to the discourse of alleged match-fixing in the Ghana Premier League and the serious effects it causes to the football industry.
“Unfortunately, in doing so, I made sweeping statements which affected the sporting integrity of some clubs and some matches of the just-ended Premier League. I wish to say that in my attempt to forcefully relay my personal opinion about the wrongful impact of alleged match-fixing in the League, I rather made vexatious statements that some clubs have not been happy about.
“I wish to render an unqualified apology to the clubs whose names I mentioned in the interview and to say that I did not intend to tarnish their image or bring them into public ridicule.
“I also apologize unreservedly to the Ghana Football Association for making such unpleasant comments and hereby retract anything I said in the interview.
“I must admit that I have been unwell for the past three months and should have declined the interview because I was not in the right frame of mind to make dispassionate comments which I am known for.
“I deeply regret every word spewed out in the said interview and hereby render my sincerest apologies to whoever has been affected by my comments including the sporting public.”
