Can we curb the wholesale condemnation of our referees?
Almost everybody agrees that we are currently witnessing a very unique and competitive Premier League season.
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The top is boiling with Wa All Stars sending very strong signals that they are the team to beat if any other team wants to lift the converted trophy at the end of the season. Indeed for this season, they can be equalled to the British EPL top team, Leicester City.
Additionally, Dream FC and Techiman City, both new entrants to the prestigious premier league have proved that they deserve to be part of the elite teams of the league.
The managers of the season’s league really deserve a lot of praise for carrying out their duties and responsibilities with distinction and honour.
Except what looks like the unnecessary delay in coming out with a disciplinary decision on the incidents before, during and after the Hearts of Oak-Wa All Stars match, the league managers have scored almost full marks for a job well-done. Fact is, the delay of decision on the Hearts/Wa All Stars match whether rightly or wrongly, has generated a few unsavory remarks and comments. Football is a game that breeds a lot of rivalry and speculations. There should, therefore, be no room created for them.
The unfortunate impression should not be created that the old and constant delays in decisions on disciplinary measures are about to return to the management of our football. Long silence and void create the space and avenue for rumours and individual conclusions, mostly unintended.
Last Monday, just a day after the Hearts-All Stars match, GBC-TV came out with a video clip that clearly showed that the widely believed offside positioning of the Wa All Stars striker who scored the team’s opening goal was indeed NOT in an offside position. That quickly cleared the air and greatly reduced the widespread insults and condemnation of the match officials.
Another unwelcoming development on the on-going league is the constant wholesale condemnation of the performance of referees. One or two decisions may not meet with one’s expectations. But we should aggregate our observations in criticising and appraising their efforts.
We have had a total of Ten Match Days or weeks of league matches which have translated into felding individual referees.
That is when we take into account that four single referees handle one match at eight different league centres per match day. My worry is how many of those referees have not performed well. Yes, some four referees might have been sanctioned by the GFA, but what is the arithmetical average to the total number of the performing ones. There are too many absolute and wholesale condemnations of our referees. That is my point. On almost weekly bases, we see some foreign referees who commit almost the same mistakes that our Ghanaian referees commit. And majority of those foreign referees are among the best FIFA referees, unlike here in Ghana where we have only seven middle FIFA referees.
We should not forget when during a certain season in the past, our PLB went to bring international referees from neighbouring Togo. That practice had to be discontinued when it was discovered that the quality of refereeing of the imported Togolese referees was not above that of our local ones. Indeed, one of those referees was chased out of the Baba Yara Stadium by angry fans.
Added to this is the fact that in our own international matches played by our
own players we see and meet some horrible match handling. Recently a foreign assistant referee ruled offside a perfect goal in a continental match between Libyan club side Al-ittihad Tripoli and our own Medeama.
My main point is that, the Ghanaian referee is the one that we have. We must support him. We as a people are too quick to pick on and destroy our own at the expense of the imported and foreign ones. Fact is, we readily smile at and shake hands with our referees when we win matches.
But we quickly condemn them as soon as matches do not end in our favour. A match in point is the well-fought Hearts of Oak-Wa All Stars Match Day 7 game. The referees were randomly condemned, insulted and pelted for taking three ‘bad’ decisions during the match. However, an objective and scientific analysis of the performance of the three match officials proved that they did their best professionally. Fact is, most of our criticisms and fault-findings are based on the passion to win at all cost.
This discussion is not to defend poor referee performances. It is to encourage them to put up their best. Indeed, our referees should appreciate the fact that club owners have invested rather heavily in building up and maintaining their teams. And as they participate in the leagues and other tournaments they expect to reap expected revenues from their investments. As referees and referee managers, we have been given the charge to perform our duties honestly and professionally. Referees must also aspire to be very accurate in their decision making and successfully control the game using modern management and communication skills to create an environment of fair play.
We should also remember that players, coaches and team-managers know and recognise a good referee when they meet one. They may not be able to recite the 17 Laws of the Game, but they know when a referee displays elements of bias and are unfair in handling the game.
The important point is that all sides involved in a match should play their parts well. Not only that. There must be mutual respect for one another’s role and contribution. And especially the importance and contribution of referees should be appreciated. What is more, the wholesale condemnation of referees must be curbed, because most of them are performing their duties very well.