How did referees fare during the league?
The 2015/2016 Football season has ended with both Premier and Division One Leagues (DOL) declaring the known winners and losers. Wa All Stars, without doubt, neatly and clearly emerged as the winners of the Premier League. With the DOL, three zonal champions, Elmina Sharks, Accra Great Olympics and Bolga All Stars have qualified to join the prestigious Premier League.
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Majority of the league watchers have agreed that activities of the season have been well organised and managed.
Ashford Tettey-Oku’s PLB, Owoahene Acheampong’s DOL and the various GFA standing committees, therefore, deserve a lot of commendations for a job well done. But perhaps, our referees should be singled out and commended.
Apart from the few referees who were dragged to the Match Review Panel, the referees as a group played their part very well. Although they deserve our praise, it would be useful to draw attention of our referees and even their managers to some weak areas that affected their effectiveness.
The most obvious, to me, is the quality of reports that they submitted after their matches to their appointing authorities. Referees know the importance of and the key role that match reports play in the administration of the results of all matches.
Ghanaian football matches are fraught with occasional violence and other incidents. If we are to grow and improve upon our standard of play, match spectatoring and organisation, quality match reports should become key. But on a lot of occasions when investigators reached out for evidence on incidents from referees’ reports, they got stranded and grope in the dark.
It should be possible, for example, for a referee who claim that he and his assistants were held hostages to include in the report, the location at which they were held hostage and how they were released as hostages (was it the security men and or club officials? And also where they were finally taken to)
Again, when a referee claims that he has been assaulted and needs medical attention and that he has lost a caution card, a whistle ‘et cetera’, he should be able to provide a financial bill, unless he does not want to claim any damage or refund. Referees’ reports should be so comprehensive that there would be no need to invite them to committee hearings.
I don’t want to believe allegations that follow such assaults and beatings that the managers of the guilty teams try to appease some assaulted referees not to report fully on the incidents. Our national laws recognise any form of assault as a criminal offence.
It is increasingly being accepted that assaults involving football fans and supporters should be treated differently. It is important that referees who happen to be victims of crowd violence and assault assist in wiping out this criminal behaviour. And this can only be achieved when and if the culprits would be identified and punished.
Referees and indeed all match officials should appreciate the fact that their reports help the PLB, the DOL and all match organisers to take vital decisions. Without evidence, there can be no prosection and decision.
In discussing the success or otherwise of last season, one cannot forget the role of our media. The media had a dedicated approach towards matches of the season. The media have built up useful data on the clubs and individual players.
Additionally, the print media and television did so well in their publicity and coverage of the matches. It is very refreshing when radio stations publish league tables almost immediately matches end. It is unfortunate, however, to mention the coverage that some radio commentators provide during their commentaries. Some of them go out of their way to make certain unfortunate allegations about match officials, the league and the GFA.
A case in point is an aspect of the commentary provided by the Uniiq FM commentator on the Hearts versus Berekum Chelsea match on Match Day 20 at the Accra Sports Stadium. He reported that there was no match commissioner for the match. He said the match commissioner had gone to hospital because he was suffering from stomach disorder because he had taken banku and okro soup. He didn’t stop there. He mentioned Gabriel Tagborlo as the match commissioner.
I heard this while listening to commentaries at home. Mr Gabriel Tagborlo happens to be my secondary school classmate for five years. I was worried. I, therefore, immediately telephoned him only for him to tell me he had just left the Accra Sports Stadium and he was on his way back to Cape Coast, his station.
He told me he was at the stadium and he did commission the match. But he added that he did not occupy the match commissioner’s chair near the touchline, but decided to take a seat upstairs. That was a classic case of careless and uninformed information from no other station but Uniiq FM.
Yes, the match commissioner was not in the seat where he was expected to be. But in reporting this, where did taking banku and okro soup and having a stomach upset and going to the hospital for a check-up come in? The information was not only misleading but also frightening.
Match officials, like other Ghanaians, have families and friends. Radio news is fast and it goes far and wide. Our commentators should know the effect and impact of radio news and check and cross-check their information. Information, especially the one from radio stations, is like bullet. Once released, it can not be recalled.
The media needs to continue to uphold our football and league. There are some critics who describe the league as unattractive. Well, we are in an era of free thinking and speech. But the fact is that we have just witnessed a great and attractive league. Even before the season ended, we had eleven players who had left the country to play in other parts of the world.
The season naturally had both positive and negative sides. It started with no headline sponsor except what came from DSTV in the form of media rights fees. The clubs had to manage their teams from their own resources. Does that make the league a bad league? It is on record that attendance during matches and gate fees largely improved during the season.
We should all make a critical examination of the season, take lessons and work hard to improve whatever gains that have been made. Our leagues have not only produced entertainment and recreation; above all, they continue to provide many people with jobs and wealth. We should not transfer our hatred and envy for some of the managers of our football to our league.
We need to pat ourselves on our backs and congratulate our club owners, league managers, our referees and the environment on a successful season and welcome the next season with renewed dedication and professionalism.