WPL- Tamale Derby game between Pearlpia Ladies and Northern Ladies turn chaotic yet again as fans invade pitch.
There was a serious misunderstanding between supporters of Pearlpia Ladies and that of Northern Ladies Fc on the Match Day 11 fixture between the two clubs at Tamale Utrecht Academy Park, Kasalgu. The center referee awarded a goal to the home side, Pearlpia Ladies which would have been the equalizer but the Supporters of Northern Ladies Fc agitated, insisting that a foul was committed on the goal keeper, Amenyeku Afi in the build up to the goal.
The Supporters alleged that Amenyeku Afi held the ball but lost it when she was pushed by a Pearlpia Ladies attacker.
The center referee after consulting the fourth official and the Match Commissioner reversed the decision which didn’t also go down well to the Supporters of the home side, Pearlpia Ladies, hence evaded the pitch to stop the referee from continuing the match.
Truth must be told, the matches involving the two Women’s Premier League Clubs in Tamale have proven to be more frightening to watch than even their male counterparts.
The Utrecht park in Kasalgu is the home ground for Pearlpia Ladies which many have raised concerns for playing such high profile derby matches at the park citing safety and security issues as the basis of their concerns. Yesterday’s incident was not the first time such incident is happening at the Kasalgu Utrecht Park but the question many keep asking is that, why such things always occur at the Park yet it still hosts such big matches? Something has to be done!
Derby matches as it is well known in the whole world have never been taken lightly, as each rival club wants to claim the bragging rights.
It was a match projected to be one of the exciting matches but yet some had the believe that the game would not finish citing past records as evidence. The records show that most matches played at the Utrecht Park do not end well.
Northern Ladies took the lead within the first 10 minutes after kickoff through Torkozo Frederica. The goal raised the tempo of the match so high as each club wanted to win the game to claim the supremacy.
Quite apart from claiming the bragging rights, both are currently languishing in the bottom three of the table and a win would have afforded each of them the opportunity to move a step above the relegation zone
The last nine competitive meetings between the two clubs produced six draws and three wins. All the wins infavour of Northern Ladies Fc.
This weekend’s match was to afford coach Baba Nuhu Mallam the opportunity to lead Pearlpia Ladies Fc to their first competitive victory over Coach Sumani Bashiru-Deen’s side, Northern Ladies. But that didn’t happen as Northern Ladies had an early goal in the first half which made it almost difficult for PearlPia Ladies to get a victory any more.
With the first half ending with a 1-0 defeat against PearlPia Ladies, they returned back strongly in the second department of the game pushing hard for an equalizer.
The match officials for the match had no choice than to close the match on the 72nd minute after the match was halted for more than an hour.
We are still waiting for the GFA’s decision on the matter.