One of the major issues that rocked Ghana Football in the wake of the Anas’ expose was refereeing.
Many referees in the country, some were of very high repute were hit and came under intense scrutiny.
The image of refereeing in the country was battered to the ground, leaving Ghana without a referee on CAF assignments and many have said it will take a great deal to restore the image of referees in the country.
Now, under the leadership of Kurt Okraku, with trust in referees key on his agenda, he has made refereeing an important aspect of his leadership. Referees have been in a bootcamp since Monday in a bid to learn, refresh themselves for the upcoming season and go through various courses to improve on their skills.
In all, 311 referees from Ghana are participating in this workshop.
“For the coming season we will have 40 referees for the Premier and whilst the others will be pushed to officiate in the Division One league to improve the quality there”, the Vice President of GFA Mark Addo stated.
He further revealed that the GFA will evaluate the performances of all referees through a third party who will be tasked to assess all league matches. This, he said, will help improve the performance of referees in games. It is a decision he feels will curb the bribery problem that has engulfed that aspect of the sport.
“Strive to be shining examples. By the end of the season, majority will be here but some will not be here based on the assessment of your performances”, he added.
Instructors for the seminar are FIFA/CAF Referees Instructor Lim Kee Chong from Mauritius, fitness trainer Jason Damoo from Seychelles and Bento Navesse from Mozambique.
The referees will go through a fitness test, training on match fixing, applying the laws of the game and decision making.
By Yaw Ofosu Larbi | Ghana