Hearts to challenge Appeals Committee ruling
A Board member of Accra Hearts of Oak, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, has described as “a sham”, the ruling last Tuesday by the GFA Appeals Committee to overturn an earlier verdict by the FA’s Disciplinary Committee to dock six points from Kumasi Asante Kotoko for fielding an unqualified player during their Premier League clash with Hearts in Accra.
The restoration of Kotoko’s six points resulted in positional changes on the league table as Kotoko jumped to the second spot behind champions AshantiGold while Hearts dropped from the fourth to the 13th spot on the log.
However, Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, a former chairman of Hearts, is unamused by the Appeals Committee verdict and hinted that the club would challenge the ruling.
"The decision is totally wrong with a lot of flaws, so we are going to the next level, which is the Review Committee. This is not a question of tit-for-tat, it is about what is right in the eyes of the law” Dr. Tamakloe told Daily Graphic in an interview yesterday.
Vowing that the management of Hearts would never rest until they reclaimed their points, he said challenging the ruling successfully was the only way to restore discipline in the Premier League.
“The laws of the GFA must work, they must be consistent with the laws of the land and, as such, the civil court will be an option after exhausting all the GFA's procedures.
“We laid out our facts to the Disciplinary Committee, and we are convinced we are right, so what has happened is a sham, hence the need for us to head to the Review Committee to seek a reversal”.
The Appeals Committee last Tuesday upheld an appeal filed by Kumasi Asante Kotoko on an earlier ruling by the Disciplinary Committee that the Elite Clubs Competition matches were not official matches and, therefore, Kotoko's Obed Owusu could not have served his suspension by sitting out in the Kotoko versus Dunkwa United match.
Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe said since the Committee's verdict was totally flawed, Hearts were willing to risk expulsion from the league by pursuing the case to its logical conclusion.