Outspoken football administrator, Kofi Manu, believes Hearts of Oak cannot hold Great Olympics responsible for fielding an unqualified player in their matchday 28 game at the Accra Sports Stadium.
‘Blue Boy’, as he is popularly known in the sports fraternity, said the information of the player was fed into the system and Olympics made a request so the request reflected in a central system where the Ghana Football Association, the team the player plays for and other teams in the system could monitor what was going on in the central system; therefore, if there was a problem with the player as at the time that Olympics made the request, the FIFA connect on the system would have shown red.
In an interview with Kumasi-based Opemsuo Radio, he reiterated that Olympics do not issue card, noting that FIFA has made it such that before a player’s card is issued, the system cross-checks for everything to verify the authenticity of the player involved before the buying team can have the card done.
“If you look at it the player is from one end which is his club, then his information will get to the second end which is the GFA’s system for approval and here Olympics is the third end so it will be difficult to hold them responsible for whatever happened at the second stage,” he explained.
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According to Blue Boy, the protest is part of football but if there is no twist to the story then Great Olympics should relax and focus on winning the league instead.
Hearts are accusing Olympics winger Joshua Kwame Rhule of not having the required certification for a change in name, therefore, making him unqualified to feature for them.
Reports said the player was christened Mervyn Koomson but changed his name on three occasions.
He used the same name when he played for a Division One Club, Santos in the 2016/17 season and Beninese side Dragons in the 2019/20 season but was signed and registered by Olympics in the second round of the ongoing premier league as Joshua Kwame Rhule.