DRAMA OVER CAPTAINCY ARMBAND

There was a little bit of drama over the captaincy armband when Ghana faced Ethiopia in a qualifier on Sunday.

The Black Starswon the game convincing as they scored five goals against the opposition. Skipper Gyan was pulled out by the manager KwasiAppiah. And he walked out of the pitch without handing over the arm band. This added fuel of the alleged rift between both stars.

Gyan had started the game with a customised arm band. The arm band had the colours of the national flag red, gold and green but it also had the portrait of the player conspicuously drawn on it. it generated a lot of talks about why a captain would wear it as there are clear rules from FIFA.

The Equipment Regulations on captain armbands instructs that the armband must be provided by FIFA. The colour should be one dominant colour except it is composed of the national flag but that it must be different from the colour of the sleeves. The law is clear that the arm band should be clear of promotional material, decorative element with just “captain” of abbreviation written on it.

For now it is unclear whether FIFA would ban the country Football Association, the coach and player or just the player. Most skippers use black colour as the arm band with ‘C’ clearly written on it.

When Gyan left the pitch, Ayew had to go collect a different arm band to use for the rest of the game. This is a difficult period for the African side as they are at their weakest strength compared to recent years so banning the FA might be detrimental.