No matter how humorous, upsetting, or agreeable Hon. Samuel Awuku‘s stance on drinking pubs is, there’s no denying that alcohol holds no place anywhere near football or any sporting discipline.
The gruesome murder of Asante Kotoko super fan, Francis Yaw Frimpong, popularly known as “Nana Pooley,” has unearth a lot of conversation that has been buried over the years.
“When you are drinking you must know you have a responsibility because when you drink and go misbehave, the law catches up on you. You can’t drink and hide in the state and think the law would not take care of you,” Wisdom Kobena Woyome agreed with Hon. Awuku on Max FM’s Sports Pack show.
Despite his shared views with the young legislator, Woyome, a well-known Ghanaian politician, thinks the economic aspect of alcohol would greatly benefit the Ghana Premier League.
“You have Guinness, Budweiser, and all that sponsoring the Premier League and all that. They would not do that for nothing,” he continued.
However, he noted there would have to be measures or regulations on managing the sale of alcohol either in or around match centres.
“Definitely, they may give them some room to have pubs and things around where carefully there would be measures put together to ensure that you don’t go intoxicated and misbehave.
That is why when it comes to legislation, all of these would be taken into consideration, and then how it is managed would also be considered, and at what parameter in terms of radius do we have to allow alcohol sales because the industry needs money,” Woyome added.
Woyome’s opinion comes from a good place, but the policies of the Food and Drugs Authority affect the Ghana Football Association’s luxury chance of having the alcohol-rich industry as sponsors.
The violence and hooliganism has surely affected the prospect of the GFA securing sponsors for the league anytime soon, but the Marketing Director of the GFA, Jamil Maraby remains optimistic.
