Let us uproot violence from our football
There appears to be an unacceptable side effect of competitive football in our part of the world, especially Ghana. That is violence. Admittedly, it used to be worse many years ago. But gradually that ugly side of our football is emerging-again. And we must do something about it.
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Clearly, the Laws of the Game and, in particular, football regulations, have provided rules for containing and doing away with it. Recently, the oldest existing football team in the country Accra Hearts of Oak had to be sanctioned by the authorities to pay a heavy fine when their fans resorted to violent conducts as their way of showing their disagreements with certain decisions of match officials who handled their encounter against Wa All Stars.
They also suffered the sanction of playing two home matches without their fans and other spectators. The sanctions appeared harsh, but they were imposed to cure the unwholesome incident of violence and indiscipline within the game.
The annoying aspect of the fans negative reactions was that when the match was subjected to independent technical review and analysis, the decisions of the match officials were proved to be right and current. In the end, the violent conduct of the fans yielded no positive result.
Hearts of Oak suffered a lot of financial loss in terms of a fine and gate fees. The fans also lost their entertainment and support for their team. There were also collateral losses to food vendors and other allied small businesses that benefit from matches. In the end nobody benefited from that violent incident. And that was not the only case of violence.
Recently, fans of some Division One Clubs also misconducted themselves by assaulting match officials and even a coach of one of the teams.
So far, real disciplinary actions have not been taken but the initial administrative sanction of placing bans on some playing grounds have been effected. And as if to add insult to injury, the national executives in charge of the Referees Association of Ghana has informed the authorities of the withdrawal of their referees’ services to some specific match venues.
This is an action that has been absent from our football over a long period of time. But it’s good. And it appears that the referee executives have been forced to resort to this unilateral decision. The only unfortunate aspect of it is that the referees action is not backed by any Ghana Football Association (GFA) rule or regulations. Modern football is governed by the Laws of the Game, Regulations and Rules. And these are all laid down and applied as and when necessary.
I remember the time I was assaulted by a team from Labadi, La Scala. Referees from Accra met and placed a boycott on all matches involving La Scala. The team turned to and appealed to referees from Tema. The Tema District Referees Association refused. And that team had no referees to handle their matches.
And I am sure that was how that team went out of existence. I was then the Secretary of the Greater Accra Referees Association. We succeeded in our venture. But such boycotts cannot work and succeed on the national level.
Reason
The GFA Statutes and Regulations cannot accept such unilateral actions and decisions. Because all the referees accredited and listed as Division One and Premier League Referees are under the GFA Rules and Regulations and indeed under FIFA laws and regulations. And these Laws and Regulations have also established laid down procedures and sanctions that cover match officials, teams, players and indeed all bodies involved in football.
By way of affiliation, the Referees Association is a member of the GFA. Indeed, they have two representatives who are members of the GFA Congress. Currently and for some years now, there is a referee on the Executive Committee of the GFA, although she represents some two other affiliated members.
As referees, therefore we cannot ‘eat our cake and have it’. We belong to the GFA and we cannot ‘go solo’ on our decisions that may affect the smooth football matches. We should therefore back down and leave the judicial bodies of the GFA to solve this aspect of our problem.
As referees too, we should not forget the role assigned to us in ensuring that violence is curbed or controlled before, during and after matches.
With the help and understanding of match commissioners, referees should always ensure the presence and engagement of security at our matches. There are supposed to be a certain number and requirement of security personnel at our matches. But more often than not, we relax in the enforcement of this vital aspect of our responsibilities and get satisfaction from assurances from home teams and match organisers that a certain number of security men would be present during the match. This is done during pre-match meetings which are held in the morning of matches.
Security men
For effectiveness, we should ensure that some few minutes before the start of the match, perhaps, before or just after the inspection of the teams that the agreed numbers of security were present and available before the start of the match. It is important that we identify and engage the head of the security men before we blow our whistle for the start of the match.
The same way, we should know and engage the medical team and their equipment, including an ambulance before we start the match. All these important but much overlooked aspects of the referee and match commissioners job should be emphasised during the pre-match meetings.
Most often, some of our referees, remain mute and cold-blooded during pre-match meetings. They only interest themselves in the inspection of the team colours, players and their equipment.
Again, during the interval before the start of the second half, the referee should make a mental assessment of the security situation based on the behaviour of the spectators, the players and even the technical benches. He should ensure that all those not allowed to enter into the Inner Perimeter of the field are excluded from the area.
This is where the fourth referee can be active and effective. The situation where some club executive members and ‘big men’ descend into the inner perimeter and come close to their fans and players should be avoided.
Some of these club executive members can be ‘hooligans’ clothed in nice suits and dresses. They sometimes inspire and urge on crowd violence. And when the violence start they turn to be like William Shakespeare’s Mark Anthony or rather Anthonio.
If and when they choose, they may later appear to come to the aid of the match officials. They may appear to be preventing the angry fans or players from beating up the referees, whereas they use their eye contacts and body language to urge them on to more violence. And after they have satisfied themselves, they would accompany the beaten officials to their dressing rooms and sometimes give them a ride to the lorry station, and perhaps pay for their transport.
Some referees easily buy into all these cosmetics and desist from giving the actual report of the incidents. This is pathetic and shameful as it encourages the football ‘big men’ to persist in their disrespect for match officials.
It is my case that as referees, we can also do a lot to help curb, control and eventually eliminate violence from our football. We should have a ‘No tolerance’ attitude towards violence. Above all, all violent incidents should be religiously reported in our match reports to enable the necessary sanctions to be applied.
Football is a game for gentlemen. We should, therefore, endeavour to eliminate violence from our football. And this depends a lot on match commissioners and our referees themselves.
