1. Following the success announcement of our gallant performance of twenty-three national athletes at the recently held three international events in Benin-towards players onward career progression to multi-sport events, fuelled by the growing national popularity of the sport, the national athletes commission have taken notice of comments to media houses that have emerge on social media from a small number of obdurate players who are not in good standing regarding a purported news conference to be organized in the coming days with the subject agenda headline on “vindictiveness and constitutional breaches”.
2. While the announcement of athletes’ behaviour in many sports can divide opinion, the athletes’ commission brings to the attention of all athletes (Professional and casual) that every group of persons operate within a particular framework of byelaws and constitutional provisions that makes you a member in good standing and a citizen of the association.
3 In furtherance to the mission of the Athletes’ Commission, which is to represent athletes in good standing within the Badminton fraternity and support them to succeed in their sporting and non-sporting careers, and we are being represented at the highest levels of decision making within the association.
4. The comments made by these small numbers of four persons to media houses this morning referring to the welfare and meanness of those four persons are entirely unnecessary, especially when none of these persons had approached the athlete’s commission to assist you to solve your grievance, if any.
5. We want to remind all athletes that, as customary as any noble association within the constitutional provision of clause 41.5.1, which states “In the exercise of its Dispute Resolution powers, the Dispute Resolution Committee shall be the first venue/forum for resolving any dispute within the Association and shall for the avoidance of doubt be deemed an internal dispute resolution avenue of the first instance for the amicable settlement of any issues within the Association.”
6. “Suffice to say, the Dispute Resolution and Appeals Committee is the Association’s first point of call on all disputes as established, a declaration/notice that, no member of the Association, will take matters concerning the Association, application and interpretation of directives or laws concerning Badminton rules and its governance in Ghana to the law courts, government regulating agencies, media, social media, Badminton World Federation, Badminton Confederation of Africa, regulations, decisions and directives to the ordinary Courts, unless the BWF Statutes or regulations, BCA Statutes, or binding national law, provide for, and that any recourse to Ordinary Courts and above mentioned entities is prohibited; Any member who does not follow the internal procedure of the resolution committee as the first point of call for any dispute is automatically expelled for three years from the association without further reference and recourse to the member. A declaration that any member recognizes the internal resolution bodies of BAG as the first point of call for any matters of any member and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, as specified in these respective statutes.”NOT EVEN THE BOARD CAN OVERTURN THIS AGM DECISION IF FOUND CULPABLE.
7. Whilst we acknowledge this small number of four persons in the association have not addresses their issues through the internal dispute resolution mechanism, and would want to resort to media and social media, we as your athletes Commissioners will only sound a word of caution and advice to these four athletes, that; you face an automatic irreversible ban of THREE YEARS from the sport without further reference and recourse to them, should they decide to proceed with their intended actions with its thoughtlessness.
8. As athletes, we must remember why we started and love this sport- that playing for the nation, our teammates and personal glory should be our utmost concern and the athletes Commission takes this journey extremely seriously; the wellbeing of our players remains of paramount importance to our bright future organisation and the success of its programme. DON’T RISK YOUR SPORTS CAREER FOR SOME PERSON(S) AND THE TWO CLUBS (WHO ARE NOT IN GOOD STANDING) PAROCHIAL INTEREST
9. The Ghana Badminton Athletes Commission is always available to you and has acknowledged the comments you intend to make to the media and continues to urge you to have a constructive and productive dialogue at this time while putting additional measures in place to help manage the situation you might have, including engaging one person from within us to provide independent support to those players.
10. While the wellbeing of our four players (with some even on the associations’ national monthly allowance till date) is critically important, the wellbeing of ‘the team behind the team’ is no less important. The challenge to the professionalism and integrity of our athletes programme management, coaches, and support team is something that we cannot condone and the personal and abusive attacks on social media platforms targeting the Board are completely unacceptable, disappointing and is a significant distraction to everyone involved with the badminton team – players, coaches, and support team – and all parties recognise that the sole focus, right now, must be on preparing to continue with the success of our 2024 High Performance Plan in the best physical and mental condition, ready to make Ghana proud, as we did in our recent Benin Internationals. For now, our intention is to avoid any further disruption and focus on final preparations for our programmes.
11. We have always been as athletes’ representatives on the highest decision-making body, and will continue to be, totally committed to the national executive’s goal of providing the optimum performance environment that will see Ghana Badminton Performance Programme achieve multi-medal performances at World, African and Commonwealth level by 2026 and one that will ensure that Ghana Badminton is represented. The future looks great! and we urge the four of you to join
12. DON’T RISK YOUR SPORTS CAREER FOR SOME PERSON(S) PAROCHIAL INTEREST- THE SPORT IS BIGGER THAN ALL OF US
Signed
Ghana Badminton Athletes Commission
Kelvin Evans Alphous (0595343479)
