Ghana Premier League trophy

By Ameenu Shardow

Many have expressed their dismay at the organization of the Premier League awards and per the happenings on the night, it will be difficult to argue against their stance.

First and foremost I would like to commend the PLB for their decision to take the event away from Accra.

After seven years of its inception, it was only proper that other parts of the country that also contribute significantly to the success or otherwise of the championship see ‘glamourous’ events as such.

Unfortunately for the PLB, their good initiative to spread the award on its first attempt flopped for many reasons.

The choice of Venue:

I understand the decision to hold the awards at the conference room of the Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi which can only accommodate 150 people after the earlier decision to have it staged at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology fell through was at the instance of the Asantehene Otomfour Osei Tutu II.

That decision eventually proved to be an ‘unwise’ one. Not only did the Great King fail to turn up, but the seats and the capacity of the auditorium clearly were overwhelmed by the impressive turnout (it has always been a well attended event).

As a result, far too many people were left standing or taking turns with seats which in effect resulted in a lot of movement in the hall which does not make very good television viewing (the event was live om Metro TV).

The television telecast:

I watched the event live by courtesy Metro TV who did a tremendous job throughout the season with the live telecast of matches. As a former TV man I am best placed to know the challenges faced by TV crew especially in our local settings to get out quality stuff so I really appreciate their work.

But truly speaking, the production was quite poor. I thought I was watching the event through an infrared or should I say an infra green lens.

The lighting of the auditorium was very poor but for certain sections and they really didn’t do much in sustaining interests with some supporting visuals which I know they have throughout the event.

It was a very poor way of advertising our Premier League Awards ceremony, mind you, the event was on DSTV too.

I know they have some solid personnel there who can do a way better.

The Awards:

It is even very difficult to probe into the awards itself because for me the criteria is all messed up in my head.

People have issues with the Most Promising Star Award which was handed to Joshua Oninku of Tema Youth.

Many believe Baba Abdul Rahman far deserves the award not only because he played well but most importantly won the championship with Asante Kotoko.

But seriously, I am not competent enough to know the technicalities of this award likewise the one with Daniel Nii Adjei (the league’s MVP) and the Best Goalkeeper award which went to Robert Dabuo.

The Johnnie Walker deal:

Picture this, how ridiculous those it looks to be presenting a bottle of Johnnie Walker drink to Maxwell Konadu as part of winning the Best Coach Award.

Not only that, two more bottles of the drink were being held by some fine chick in a tray on stage to accompany the assistant Black Stars coach.

In principle, I have nothing wrong with giving drinks to a deserving Coach of the Year but like that on stage, ‘massa’ was very bad on TV.

And I was swimming on the floor with laughter to hear the explanation given by the PLB boss Welbeck Abra-Appiah on it.

“We had no idea they were bringing drinks on stage as part of the presentation,” he said.

So I ask, who was in charge of the organization of the awards?

This means, Ameenu Shardow could have easily walked on stage to present a boxer short to the coach as part of his price because I feel he deserves that too.

How about that?

These are just four of a flurry of reasons why there is e general consensus out there that the award was a massive flop (some of the reasons I must admit very ridiculous).

I don’t have much time and space to write about it extensively but really, this piece is aimed at identifying a few of them and hopefully organizers will take a cue and ensure it doesn’t happy again.

It has been seven years for crying out loud!