Referees promise good officiating

Members of the Referees Association of Ghanaian have pledged to use the Coca Cola Top Four soccer competition as a launch pad to redeem the country's sunken image of the knight of the whistle and to replicate it in this year's premier league.

Mr Joseph Wellington, an Accra-based FIFA referee and one of the 30 officials selected to handle the four-team competition said on TV3 that as a human institution mistakes are bound to happen but assured the nation of good showing during the month-long matches.

The image of Ghanaian referees has taken a nosedive in recent times epitomized in last year's Kinapharma Premier league match between archrivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak where Cape Coast-based referee, Essel Walker allowed a questionable 59th-minute goal awarded by Kotoko to stand.

However, on a TV3 Sports programme monitored by the GNA Sports Desk on Tuesday, Wellington together with Mr S. K. Antwi, Deputy National Trainer said referees have most often expressed remorse and admit their faults but these are not made public.

Mr Antwi said for instance, the Accra branch of the Referees Association meet every Thursday to do what he termed "postmortem" of their activities where matches are reviewed and mistakes of referees pointed out to them.

In spite of all that has happened in the past, the two gentlemen who had just come out of a GHALCA-organized workshop for referees towards the successful handling of the competition, promised to deliver and to make the Top Four a success.
They also took time to throw more light on the controversial offside rule to educate fans before the competition kick-starts on Saturday at the Accra Sports Stadium between Liberty Professionals and King Faisal.
The second match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Arsenals is scheduled for the Kumasi Sports Stadium on Sunday.