KOTOKO-ARSENAL CLASH CALLED OFF (BACK PAGE, OCT 7, 2010)

The teeming supporters of Berekum Arsenal and Kumasi Asante Kotoko who thronged the Golden City Park to watch the Glo Premier League encounter between the two sides left for home disappointed following the decision by the match officials to call off the match as a result of a clash of jerseys.
Both Arsenal and Kotoko put on white and red dominated jerseys which, according to the match officials, made it impossible for them to be distinguished.
Having waited for about 40 minutes, Accra-based class one referee Silas Okine called the two captains, Salou Mohammed and Jordan Opoku of Arsenal and Kotoko respectively, to inform them of the decision to call off the match after which players and officials of the two teams retired to the dressing room to change over again.
Before then there was a heated verbal exchanges between Kotoko officials and the match officials as to whether the visiting team was to change their apparel in accordance with the rules.
However, Kotoko insisted that they presented their jersey at the pre-match conference which was agreed by all before the start of the match.
The officials explained that it was detected that Kotoko were putting on white shorts and white hose which was the same as those of Arsenal and so they were asked to put on red shorts and red hose which the visiting team obliged to avoid a possible clash.
However, when the two teams marched to the field for the commencement of the match, the officials realised that the jerseys of the two teams were quite similar, thus making it difficult to distinguish between the two sides.
The match commissioner, M. G. Togborco from Cape Coast, and Referee Silas Okine of Accra insisted that Kotoko had breached what went on at the technical meeting, but the Kotoko officials, led by Jarvis Peprah, maintained that the match commissioner and the other officials were not presenting the true picture of the meeting.
Mr Augustine Asante, the Brong Ahafo chairman of the referees association, told the Daily Graphic that they would present their report about the incident to the FA for the necessary action.
Mr Togborco also indicated that by the rules, since the match had delayed for well over 30 minutes, it had to be called off for the necessary steps to be taken later.