RAG boss allays fears about quality of refereeing

Sports News of Monday, 24 September 2018

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2018-09-24

Mr DebrahMr. Joe Debrah, RAG Boss

The Referees Association of Ghana (RAG) is confident the standard of refereeing will not be adversely affected by the suspension of the country’s top referees last week following investigations into their complicity in alleged bribery, as captured in an expose by the investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

On Saturday, September 15, 2018, RAG suspended 61 leading referees and some match commissioners, with sanctions ranging from life bans to 10-year suspensions, an action that many feared could affect the quality of refereeing in Ghana football when organised competitions resumed.

However, the RAG Chairman, Joe Debrah, has allayed fears in the sporting public and club officials by saying that the association would take immediate steps to raise the capacity of the remaining referees while making bribery and corruption unattractive to match officials.

He assured the Graphic Sports Online that there were competent and honest young referees around to meet the expectations of football fans at both local and international levels.

“Any referee holding a FIFA badge is holding it out of privilege, not that he or she is better than Premier League referees who do not wear such badges. The same applies to those on the Premier League list. They are also not better than those on the Division One list, who are 500 in number,” Mr Debrah further explained in an interview with Graphic Sports Online.

“If the affected referees are no more, we shall have equally good referees to replace them. We will organise refresher courses for referees selected to replace them, and while doing so, we will seek the services of psychologists and counselors to interact with those selected to put them in the right frame of mind to enhance their operations,” he added.

He said RAG had recognised the need to win back the confidence of all stakeholders in the game and the public and had, therefore, decided to form a monitoring group to keep a close eye on referees during matches.

“Those who perform well will be commended on a monthly basis and those who perform below average will be offered tutorials for a month, but such referees will not officiate during the one-month period,” Mr Debrah said.

The referees chief said as part of the measures to improve standards, referees who distinguished themselves would be rewarded, while those who continued to perform below average would be completely barred from handling Premier League matches in Ghana.

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