The missing jet, death of an umpire and matters arising!

By Richard Annerquaye Abbey

Whew! It has really been an eventful week. Come to think of it, how on earth can an aeroplane weighing 500,000 pounds or so just vanish “in thin air?” Strange, right? Who would have thought the massive search party involving 13 countries would have a tough time locating the whereabouts of the Beijing-bound jet?

I quite remember as kids we heard so many creepy tales about the Bermuda Triangle, where it is believed that several paranormal activities have caused the sudden disappearance of vessels and aeroplanes alike.

Well, I say tales because these paranormal activities were never confirmed and the whole issue of the Bermuda Triangle has since being made nonsense by the fact that the region happens to be one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

But in times like these when hopes are fast fading and virtually nothing concrete is coming from officials of the missing airline, conspiracy theories like that of the Bermuda Triangle will flourish. To add to these weird tales are reports that the cellphones of some passengers on MH370 are still ringing but with no response.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family of the passengers aboard the flight. There can never be a more traumatic experience than this. Surely, many of them would rather wish the inevitable had happened to save them from this tormenting misery.

Prior to this unfortunate event, it was Putin’s stubbornness over Russia’s invasion of Crimea that dominated international news; but thanks to flight MH370 it appears Moscow has been given a breather as world focus shifted to the rescue mission.

Well, there’s not much we can do than to pray for the people of Crimea and the families of the MH370 victims. 

Let me shift to news on our local scene. Did I hear that a certain referee Andoh died from injuries sustained having presided over a football game in the lower tiers of the league? 

Do we learn at all? The May 9^th et al have not really thought us any lesson after all.

I heard an official of Gold Stars, whose supporters are alleged to have assaulted the young referee, saying Referee Andoh could not possibly have died from the assault as he recovered only to die a week or so later.

He sounded as if subjecting match officials to assault by spectators is not a crime. Sad to say, assault of match officials in the lower divisions of football are quite common and many a time people get away with it. I doubt whether this would have been news if the young chap had not died.

I have maintained a zillion times that Kwesi Nyantakyi-led Ghana Football Association’s bias towards the Black Stars is hurting the domestic game. I don’t know what’s in there for them, but they seem to have put the domestic game on the backburner -- under complete neglect.

He’s one person I admire a lot; however, his treatment of the domestic game is one that makes my heart cringe.  I am still waiting to see how the GFA will handle this whole incident. The family must not allow the FA any breathing space; they must seek justice.

The Sports Ministry has promised to investigate the sad incident. I only pray that the investigation does not become tea-party committee.  I urge the family to sue the FA if they don’t get anything meaningful out of the investigation.

This madness must stop. The referees association must also make their voice heard; they have been too quiet for my liking. I think they should be at the forefront in pushing for the unravelling of the incident. 

We need to enforce the rules that forbid football games to be played when there are not enough security personnel to protect players and match officials. We are not doing our football brand any good if we continue recording such premedieval occurrences.

The local league has a lot of potential. We have a long way to go if we are to retain talent, not to talk of attracting some of the best talents in the sub-region.  Our footballers are moving to DR Congo, South Sudan and so on. These are countries that aren’t any better than us.

May the soul of the young referee rest in peace.

Have a lovely weekend.

I’m out.