Ghanaian clubs are up in arms with the Football Association over an unpopular directive, seeking to ban clubs from recording footages of their own matches in the domestic top-flight.
The latest directive from the governing body, has sparked outrage and will lead to a showdown between the two parties in the coming days.
The Ghana Football Association issued a directive on Monday, warning the principal actors – football clubs, from filming their own matches for technical analysis.
The Ghana FA claim filming of matches by Premier League clubs is illegal, warning it could be forced to drag the major stakeholder to court for an infringement on a contractual agreement between broadcast partners StarTimes and the FA.
The directive has been met with stiff opposition and could potentially disrupt the smooth start of the 2020-21 season.
The China-based organisation, which acquired the TV rights to broadcast the Ghana Premier League back in January this year, have just paid a paltry $10,000 to all 18 elite clubs so far with an additional $5,000 to be paid on Tuesday November 17, 2020.
The directive is in furtherance to the threat issued by the broadcast right holders to stakeholders over what they claim are “illegal and unlawful” broadcast of matches in the Ghana Premier League.
They have dragged four media outlets – Silver FM, Aseda FM, Stade Afrique and Najoe Sounds to court for broadcasting and sharing Asante Kotoko’s game against Techiman Eleven Wonders on their official channels including Facebook and Youtube.
The television right holders are leaving no stone unturned in their bid to avoid ambush-marketing – vowing to deal ruthlessly with any organization that broadcast the content of the Premier League without approval.
But the directive from the Ghana FA has become hugely unpopular with a number of clubs including Asante Kotoko vowing to drag the association to court.
The Porcupine Warriors endured a hellish and nightmarish spell with officialdom over its decision to use the VEO, the cutting edge automatic camera for football during their league match against Eleven Wonders on Sunday.
For now it appears the new directive from the FA may not see the light of day with clubs bent on ignoring the unpopular directive and damned the consequences.