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But for the tactfulness of Assistant Comissioner of Police, Kofi Boakye, Ghana would have witnessed another stadium disaster, two years after the May 9 disaster of 2001.
This was disclosed by celebrated journalists and writer Ken Bediako in his book “The Complete history of the Ghana Premier League”.
He narrates that in the 2003 Ghana Premier League season, fans of both Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak clashed after a controversial refereeing decision.
In the third week of the season, the two clubs squared it off at the Accra Sports Stadium. It was the height of the Charles Taylor move to Kotoko and tension was high between fans of the two clubs.
Hearts of Oak got the opener through Don Bortey in the 26th minute and controlled the game until the 56th minute when Kotoko pulled parity through Yusif Chibsah.
Kotoko’s goal riled Hearts of Oak fans who thought their goalkeeper Eben Dida was fouled in the lead up to the goal.
The fans went berserk and started throw objects onto the field. The fans who interestingly were at the May 9 stand removed their chairs and throwing them onto the field.
According to the report, Kofi Boakye “had to be extremely tactful to avoid a repetition of the May 9 disaster at the same venue that claimed 127 lives”.
The police subsequently arrested some four football fans. The four namely Robert Shadow, Isaac Armah, Ibrahim Ali and Ibrahim Adamu were condemned to prison with hard labour by a Madina District Court.
Kotoko won the league that season with 75 points.
