Sports
Hunting for proper ‘Knights of the Whistle’
Officiating is the rock-layer of every sporting endeavour – peculiarly football.
Take it out and the game would stagger to a messy halt – most likely cascading into an orgy of preventable ‘blood-letting’ on the pitch – not to talk about the indignity it broadly spews out.
The sear of anguish and the torrent of pain of the May 9, 2001 disaster that recorded 127 deaths at the Accra Sports Stadium during a Premier League game between Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko, is still freshly etched on our minds.
Indeed, referees are the lifeblood of the game and wield a lot of power and authority as to making and unmaking the game with their kind of decisions. When the referee performs creditably well, he is lauded by the majority of supporters – even if their clubs lose.
On the reverse, the officials are given a bad name and hanged when they perform shoddily.
Indeed, the most unpleasant thing a club can experience is to suffer defeat through a bout of biased officiating!
Such cases are replete in our various leagues nationwide. It is almost a weekly trauma for some of the clubs that have no option, but to bear the agony and go through the painful motion.
Distressingly, the perpetrators – the centre referees and some of the assistant referees, have almost always walked away scot-free to enjoy their booties (bribes) – not giving a damn to the ‘carnage’ they may have caused.
Many of such disgraceful officials have been weeded out by the ‘Number 12’ Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ investigative piece. The rest may be hanging around to strike when the iron is hot. They have to be smoked out and cleared from the system in order to give football a new lease of life.
That is why one was highly thrilled to learn of efforts the Ghana Football Association (GFA) is taking to replenish its stock of referees – badly depleted after the Anas’ work that affected a decent number of the nation’s top brass.
About 75 referees were affected by the investigation as the ‘knights of the whistle’ were caught on camera collecting bribes to plunge the game into disrepute.
Later, the Referees Association of Ghana (RAG) emerged that it had exonerated 14 and suspended or banned 61 referees because there was no evidence beyond reasonable doubt to validate allegations of corruption and bribery against them.
CAF and FIFA had already banned the referees on the list of the RAG.
Three months after the allegations first surfaced, RAG found 61 referees culpable on charges of bribery and corruption.
Subsequently, the body splashed out 10-year suspensions to 53 referees and banned another eight for life after studying footage from the investigation, and 14 referees who appeared in the video were deemed to have no case to answer.
That is how badly bruised the refereeing situation in Ghana is; something the Referees Manager of the GFA – Alex Kotey – says he is fighting tooth-and-nail to reverse.
The GFA last Tuesday launched a ‘Catch them Young’ refereeing project to help recruit a new generation of young, budding and talented referees for the country.
Under the tag-line ‘Catch them Young Refereeing Policy,’ the move was to help replenish the stock left after the Anas exposé. Only three FIFA referees from the old stock – namely Daniel Laryea, Latif Adari, and Paul Atimaka, survived the ‘inferno.’
It is heartwarming to note that 10 new young promising referees are said to have managed to meander their way onto the FIFA list.
“Identifying young budding talents from the Senior High Schools (SHSs) and the tertiary levels and helping them develop the love and skills for refereeing and imbibing in them the spirit to upholding the integrity of the trade from this stage is one sure way of securing the future of refereeing in the country,” Mr Kotey asserted.
Steadily, Ghanaians were beginning to believe again in the local referee before the COVID-19 pandemic struck to put the season to ‘sleep’ in mid-March, this year.
One must add, however, that in its bid to stock up the referee deficit, the FA must make it a matter of urgency to institute a ‘snake-pit’ inquisition into their backgrounds. It is a crucial call!
Indeed, it is dangerous to open the doors to people whose backgrounds you are not certain of to join the noble world of officiating.
The integrity of referees in this country has been battered – though not beyond repairs – but we must ensure we do not worsen the situation. This is why the FA must do a lot more to fetch referees with integrity and moral uprightness into the fold as it charts a fresh course to bring sanity into the game.
PlainTalk with JOHN VIGAH
Sports
Medeama dare Chelsea in Golden City Park …Hearts, Kotoko locked up in tough battles away
A blockbuster clash is expected at the Golden City Park at Berekum tomorrow, when former league champions, Medeama SC and Berekum Chelsea, cross swords in a top match day 17 Ghana Premier League fixture.
Games between the two sides have left fans at the edges of their seats, and tomorrow’s clash is expected to follow the status quo.
More so, Medeama will be coming up against their former technical head, Samuel Boadu, who, since leaving the club, has been a thorn in their flesh anytime he comes up against them.
With seven points separating them, Medeama SC lie seventh on the log, three places above their host, and will need to dig deep into their rich reservoir of form and experience to be able to come out of the ‘Golden City’ unscathed.
Premier League leaders, Kpando Heart of Lions, will also lock horns with third place, Nations FC, at the Kpando Sports Stadium.
A point separates both teams on the log, and that has drawn a lot of talking points, going into the game tomorrow.
Nations FC go into the game as one of the two best teams, with four away wins. This record is likely to influence play as leading goal scorer of the campaign, Faisal Charwetey, leads the line for the visitors.
Bottom club, Legon Cities, will stay put at the Legon Stadium to host 14th-placed, Dreams FC, at the University of Ghana Stadium in Legon.
That game is one for strugglers but has what it takes to generate the fireworks as they bid to snatch the points at stake to boost their survival quest.
Accra Hearts of Oak will travel to Samreboi to face Samartex 1996 in another game expected to produce a lot of thrills.
The Phobians have been on a good patch of form in recent times, chalking very important feat to claim a place at the upper part of the league table.
Playing away, they have shown resilience and courage and have not been intimidated at all, a situation that has made it difficult to brush them aside.
The story would not be different this time but the strength of the opposition would make it a more difficult encounter.
Samartex, after an impressive display in African club competition, appear to have taken the foot off the pedal and gradually dropping to the middle and lower ranks of the table.
This dip in performance is what they seek to bib in the bud as they welcome the Phobians in what can be described a do-or-die battle.
Porcupine Warriors Kumasi Asante Kotoko would welcome new boys, Vision FC, to the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.
The Reds are obvious favourites in this encounter but they have been very inconsistent. That obviously presents a chance in the game as they aim to cause the biggest upset of the event.
In other games, struggling Accra Lions will welcome second-placed, Bibiani Gold Stars FC, at the WAFA Park in Sogakope; Nsoatreman FC will host Karela United at the Nana Konamansah Park in Nsoatre; Basake Holy Stars will return to the Crosby Awuah Memorial (CAM) Park to engage Aduana Stars, while Young Apostles and Bechem United battle each other in a Bono derby at the Wenchi Sports Stadium.
By Raymond Ackumey
Sports
Give us a Sports Minister of substance
It is that time of the political season where ‘Fellow’ Ghanaians will have to show their lobbying skills to catch the attention of a freshly elected and sworn-in president and his vice.
Like it is done in the legislature where ‘Honourables’ must work hard to get the attention of the Speaker, so must fellow Ghanaians scramble for space, swerve every obstacle to submit a Curriculum Vitae (CV).
Usually, one must be well connected to more powerful people closer to those on the corridors of power for a CV to land at the appropriate place.
The scramble at the end of the day is to be favoured and selected for a ministerial role. When one is successful and even cleared by the house of Honourables, the victor is likely to serve as a Minister of the state for a period only God knows.
For some, it is after this that they can beat the chest proudly and state “Yes, I have arrived.”
But it is mesmerising how the efforts of the ambitious ones can be thwarted by comments or suggestions from another set of fellow Ghanaians.
These kind of fellow Ghanaians are the ones that lacks the prerequisite to desire the aspirations of the ambitious group.
At least through various media platforms, they make their voices heard on who should be selected for which ministry and give reasons why.
This happens very often but as to whether it is heard at the corridors of power, it will be difficult to tell.
Happenings in the current political ‘cocoa’ season has been no exception. Certain offices have been inundated with a lot of these CVs that an announcement had to be made for it to stop.
It may have stopped but what will be difficult to stop, may be the lobbying and those offering words of advice on who should be selected and who should be ignored.
Ahead of the announcement of a Minister of Sports and recreation (MoSR), there have been a lot of conversation over who to consider for the post and what the person brings to the table.
Some have called for an abrasive leader, expecting him to be tough and have either a thick skin or develop a dead goat syndrome to deal with perceived ills in the sector.
Some have gone to the extent of choosing such people to specifically deal with some actions or persons at the Ghana Football Association (GFA); as if that is where all the problems of Ghana sports emanates from.
Some have come up with many other suggestions; all in a bid to get someone cut for the role of the Sports Minister.
This is gradually making the role of the Minister of sports and recreation as the most difficult one; and perhaps no longer education, finance and labour etc.
But whatever happens, the selectors must carefully consider the true needs of Ghana sports and have a good knowledge of it as well as it current administration globally.
If we say sports has become a business, the sports minister nominee must fathom what it means and what is required to make it so.
The nominee must know and accept that sports is not just football. Apart from football, Ghana has over 50 sports federations, all depending on the national cake for survival.
The decoupling of the youth from its functions and replaced by recreation should also aid the nominee in categorising these sports disciplines.
By the rule of competitive advantage, the nominee must decipher those with realistic chances of doing well to be pushed. What we need is a Minister of substance and be firm to all but fair.
By Andrew Nortey
