The Accra Sport Stadium disaster occurred at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium, Accra Ghana on May 9, 2001. It took the lives of 127 people, making it the worst stadium disaster to have ever taken place in Africa.
Ghana’s two most successful football teams played that day, the Accra Hearts of Oak (The Phobians) Sporting Club and the Asante Kotoko (Porcupine Warriors) Sporting Club. Kotoko score the first goal in the second half of the game in the 60th minutes. The phobians played extra hard to score two goals at late making them the leading gamers. Fans of Kotoko couldn’t withstand the lost claiming the last goal of Hearts was offside and therefore it shouldn’t be accepted as a goal. After the game, Hearts became the winning team. Fans of Kotoko started throwing broken plastic chairs and bottles on the park to show how displeased they are with the game since there was a cheat.
The police responded by firing tear gas into the crowd. Panic and a stampede occurred as fans tried to escape the stadium but the gates were locked and there were fewer exits leading to the disaster.
According to reports, medical staff at the stadium had already left the stadium before the tragedy occurred at the end of the game. An official inquiry blamed police for over-reacting with reckless behaviour and indiscriminate firing of plastic bullets and tear gas. Some officers were accused of dishonesty and indefensible laxity. Six police officers were charged with 127 counts of manslaughter. The court ruled that the prosecution had failed to make a case and that the asphyxia may have been caused by the stampede and not the tear gas.
Following the event, Ghana’s president John Agyekum Kufuor at that time called for three days of mourning. The Ghana Premier Football League suspended play for a month. Since 2001 corporations and philanthropists including former Asante Kotoko chairman from 1999 to 2003 Herbert Mensah, have memorialized this tragedy with a fund, the Stadium Disaster Fund and a series of events in Kumasi. The events include paying respects to families of victims and their 148 children, their invitation to the Otumfuo ‘s birthday at Manhyia Palace , prayers in the local Central Mosque, donations to the needy, the laying of a memorial wreath and a memorial march called the “May 9th Remembered Street Walk.” In 2016 an annual memorial “May 9th Cup” football competition was created. Herbert Mensah has appealed to the government to memorialize that May 9th, to no agreement. In 2017 the memorial events were themed “Embrace the Day.”
A bronze statue was erected outside the stadium of a fan carrying another fan to safety with the inscription title “I Am My Brother’s Keeper” in honor of the victims of that tragedy.
Fans who attend matches at the stadium now chant “Never Again! Never Again!” to remind themselves of that day.
Source:www.enfexgh.com
