Grassroots football in the township of Logan Town stands to face an alleged situation of malpractices, as many fans and supporters of different teams in the third division league have complained of match fixing, referencing a recent fixture between four teams in sub-committee programs.
Spectators at the Port Harcourt field in the township on Sunday March 30, 2024, after the matchday fourteen fixture between Mande United and United Stars, were seen expressing their concerns on the match officiation in different ways, and calling for investigation in what many of them considered as match fixing in the league.
Speaking on account of anonymity, a stakeholder within the Sub-committee alleged that the Sub-committee is favoring particular teams that are to go to the Montserrado Sub-association playoffs, which is the reason many youth teams in the community want to stay away from participating in the program which has interest in developing young talents.
In the match of concern, Mande United, in the view of bystanders at the game venue, performed the greatest miracle by defeating United Stars 8-0 to win the second spot at the Sub-committee tally for the upcoming Montserrado County Playoff.
According to reports, the African New Stars Sports Academy (ANSSA) had been the team initially in the spot, and the only way their rival, Mande United Football Club could advance over them was to win their outstanding match against United Star football club by more than the six-goal difference that had been in the Subcommittee statistics for them as a superior goal advantage.
Before the round 14 fixture of the league, ANSSA and Mande United were tied on 19 points with an equal goal difference, which made the Secretary General of the Logan Town Sub-association, Lester Teah, to communicate with the teams on March 15, 2024 that the next round of matches, specifically Mande United versus United Stars Football Clubs, and the African New Stars Sports Academy versus Future Young Controllers, were going to be played at the same time and date simultaneously to avoid all speculations of malpractices.
However, the matches were not played as planned, after it was observed that the subcommittee allowed one of the two games to play, and suspended the other for more than one week, which created more room for the speculations that the match was fixed in favor of Mande United.
In response to the match fixing allegation, the Sub-committee’s Secretary General, Lester Teah, denied the claims of the fans, noting that they as authority of the football programs in the Township, do not have power over the performance of players.
According to Teah, the Subcommittee only presides over the running of affairs of the competition and will have interest in having those raising said concerns to follow the channels that will help everyone look into the matter.
He added that the reason for which the two matches were not played simultaneously as planned was communicated with the clubs, but such communications have not been proven to exist, according to sources in the Subcommittee.
