The founder of New Edubiase Football Club, Abdul Salam Yakubu, has expressed concern about the absence of a stadium in the New Edubiase community, saying, it was one of the major causes of the demotion of the club from the Ghana Premier League (GPL) last year.
He has, therefore, made a passionate appeal to the Sports Ministry to complete the abandoned stadium initiated by the John Mahama administration. This, he said, would pave way for the club to play all home matches at New Edubiase where their support base had been massive.
“The present government has since last year, initiated the building of various sports infrastructure in many districts in Ghana to promote sports development. Ironically, a project initiated by the previous government three years ago, to accelerate the development of sports within New Edubiase and its environs, has been abandoned for reasons difficult to understand,” Mr Yakubu bemoaned during an exclusive interview with Graphic Sports.
According to Mr Yakubu, but for the absence of sports stadium in the New Edubiase community, the club would have been playing in the Premier League by now.
“Because we have no stadium, we are forced to play our home matches at either Obuasi or Bekwai depending on where is available, and that affects our home support.
“Our fans were unable to travel in their numbers to Obuasi or Bekwai to motivate our players to excel, and that also denied us opportunity to generate revenue from all our home matches to meet the socio-economic needs of our players,” he lamented.
“In a league which has no sponsors, how do you recruit quality players, maintain them to keep you afloat in a competitive league at the elite division?” he questioned
Mr Yakubu said the club had now adopted a sports facility at Assin Fosu to play their home matches in the Zone Two of the Division One League (DOL) which they now occupy the top position with 17 points.
“The players are doing their best to return the club to the elite division next year, and the youth of the community are also eager to watch the GPL at Edubiase when we qualify next year, hence the need for the government to complete the abandoned stadium which has reached an advanced stage of completion,” he pleaded.
Source:www.graphic.com.gh