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The Chief Executive Officer of Green Grass Technology, Mr. Frank Boahene, has stressed the importance of having a maintenance culture as that is the only way facilities for sports can be preserved for continuous use.
According to Mr. Boahene, the lack of maintenance has affected especially the pitches being used for the Premier League matches, a trend if not checked can affect the quality of play in the competition.
“The quality of a playing pitch has impact on the quality of play, but while clubs are interested in having improved playing pitches, they are still not used to spending money to maintain those pitches,”
Mr. Boahene said. Mr. Boahene made this observation after he toured some of the playing pitches for Premier League. After his tour, Mr. Boahene observed that while there were contracts to maintain the four main stadia in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Sekondi, there were no serious maintenance works for the other pitches.
He said most clubs initially wanted to improve upon the quality of their home grounds, but most of them have rescinded their decisions after they had considered the cost involved.
“What clubs have not realised is that spending money on maintenance invariably reduce the cost of medical bills, as good pitches help reduce the rate of injuries and help teams to have quality play,” Mr. Boahene further explained.
He also revealed to the Graphic Sports, that the deal to renovate and maintain the Swedru Park has been cancelled following All Blacks’ inability to reach a deal with GGT.
Initially, the two parties had agreed that the pitch be maintained will All Blacks making an advance payment for work to begin but they withdrew at the last minute due to unforeseen problems.
Meanwhile, Ashantigold FC has reached a deal with GGT to undertake maintenance work on the pitch at the Len Clay Stadium, their home venue as well as the training pitches. The initial deal is for one year.
Written by Rosalyn Amoah of Graphic Sports on 9th, 10th & 11th December 2008 publications.
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