Echoes from the Ancestors:
The Ancestors are of the view that the provision in our regulations that makes a club that wins double automatic winner of the Super cup should be scrapped. It does not promote the spirit of competition, breeds a lot of confusion and rob the GFA of the opportunity of marketing the super cup.
I will be brief with my points:
- In football, trophies are to be won on merit and each trophy must be won on its own merit but on the alter of competition. In short, a club will have to compete to win each trophy on a sporting merit beating off competition from competitors. The super cup is a trophy that is to determine ‘who is who’ among the winner of the league and the Cup competition (FA Cup). The mere fact that we still want to play a game to determine who really is the best among the winners of the two trophies even though we know that the GPL for all intents and purposes is more prestigious and takes precedence over the FA Cup shows that we’re much concerned about competition (Playing to determine who wins) and not necessarily just awarding a trophy else, it’ll be easier to say the GPL is the most prestigious competition so the winner is automatically the best in the country. This law takes away the spirit of competition that informed the institution of this cup match. At any point in time, whoever is crowned super cup champion must beat off competition before assuming that ‘who is who’ status. In this specific case, Hearts of Oak, irrespective of winning the double must still compete and possibly beat off competition from either Kotoko who placed second on the league or Ashgold who were runners up in the Cup competition to be deemed as the super cup champions(I will elaborate on this in my concluding paragraph).
2. The current provision throws needless confusion in the minds of football followers, a mischief that can simply be cured. You may have heard or seen Hearts of Oak supporters and sympathizers claiming they have won domestic treble, a position that has been met with stiff rejection from a section of the public. The main point raised by people opposed to the treble claim is that Hearts won only the league and the FA Cup in the 2020/2021 season and that the super cup ushers in the new season (2021/2022 season) for which reason it can’t be counted among trophies won in previous season (2020/2021 season). A very solid point. However, with the current regime, the super cup, technically is won the very day a club wins the double. Legally, Hearts of Oak won the Super cup on 8th August, 2021, the final match of the 2020/2021 season when they won the FA Cup in addition to the league they had won three weeks back. It is therefore, not technically right to say the super cup competition will usher in the new season as it’s even possible that no game will be played. You’ll now see that depending on where you sit, you have a solid argument to make as to whether Hearts have won the treble or not. Another important question that begs answer is should some of the Hearts of Oak players who supposedly have already won the super cup move on and don’t register for the club for next season, will they still receive medals as winners of the Super cup, and the new players who would have played no part in winning the double which automatically won them the super cup, will they get medals as champions of the Super cup? There are more confusion but the Ancestors have limited time.
3. This regime place the FA in a very disadvantageous position when it comes to marketing the super cup as a product. The more competitive a product is, the more attraction it gets from patrons and the corporate world. Why would a company want to invest in a competition that have arrangements such that it’s possible not to happen or its competitiveness can’t be consistent and lasting? The current provision devalues the status of the Super cup as a marketable product. The competitiveness or otherwise of the Super cup depends on whether one club wins a double or not. This can’t be attractive enough to prospective sponsors.
Conclusion:
It’s possible to still play a competitive super cup competition when a club wins double – the winner plays either the runners up of the league or the FA Cup. From where I sit, I think we should consider having a replay of the FA Cup finals in such situations where the runners up of the FA Cup takes on the team that won double and try to convince MTN to extend budgetary support. Whatever the case is, we need to amend that provision going forward to give life to the super cup competition.
The Ancestors might petition the FA to consider repealing the current regime.