Can we be good winners, as well as good losers?(i)
The 2014/2015 football season officially ended with a classic match between the winners of the Premier League, Ashantigold and Medeama, the winners of the FA Cup. Medeama won and were presented with the cup at stake and also with medals. The runners-up Ashantigold players, however, refused to collect their medals. The entire team, including the handlers, were peeved since they believed that their defeat was caused by bad and biased officiating.
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Indeed, they even had the perception that there was official collusion to see them as losers. But that was bad as it did not display good sportsmanship. It is unfortunate that the sponsorship deal that promoted the match did not allow the GFA official cameras the chance to provide video coverage of the match.
Thus it was not possible for a post match video review and analyses to establish the standard of officiating during the match.
It is true that there are few occasions that some referees show lack of good performance in handling matches. But at the same time, it is very true that in the heat of matches on the field of play we judge the performance of referees wrongly and accuse them of all sorts of things including bias and influence.
This may be due to the strong desire to win at all cost or just because we are not objective in our judgements.
Recently, after the Fourth Day matches of the on-going Premier League, a club protested to the GFA that referee Issaka Afful and one of his assistants, David Adjin awarded a bad penalty kick against the team in the 53rd minute and in the 77th minute denied the same team a good goal.
The Match Review Panel of the GFA watched the video clip on the match and concluded that the referees’ decisions on both occasions were correct. On both occasions the infridgements committed appeared difficult for the club officials and the spectators to notice.
But the middle referee who was very close saw the infridgement leading to the penalty kick award and the assistant referee who was in line with the last but one defender clearly saw an off-side positioning and therefore raised his flag.
It was unfortunate that there were not representatives of the club that lodged the protest at the review meeting. Indeed, members of the review panel highly commended the two match officials on their performance, especially on noticing the two investigated infridgements and taking decisions on them.
It is unfortunate that some of the modern technical gadgets that assist us while watching foreign matches on our television screens get replays and additional viewing of referees decisions and indecisions on incidents during matches are not available here in Ghana.
These replays and additional viewing chances actually help us enjoy those matches and also appreciate the competence or otherwise of our match officials. Refereeing appears easy but it can be a rather difficult assignment requiring the engagement of all the human senses, mental faculties and in addition, physical fitness and many more.
Additionally, a close observance of players and their tricks shows that they can be selfish and dishonest, refusing to accept and acknowledge their own faults. They could misbehave and pretend not to feel guilty or show remorse, especially through their body language.
The point is that on many occasions and in many instances we accuse some of our match officials of poor officiating when indeed, their decisions are correct.
A classical example was the penalty award given against WAFA by Kumasi-based referee Reginald Lathbridge during the Aduana/WAFA fourth day premier league match played at the Dormaa park.
It was only a close study of the video clip and the explanation of the referee which clearly revealed that a defender of WAFA handled the ball before the goal-keeper caught it.
But for the referee’s explanation, anybody who casually watched even the video clip would agree with the WAFA Coach that they were given a raw deal by referee Lathbridge. The coach angrily said all sorts of things about the referee.
The point is not to defend bad and wrong decisions of our match officials. The point is that, we should be slow in condemning some decisions of our referees. Indeed, in the protest that followed the referee’s decision, the WAFA defender who handled the ball and, therefore, committed the offence did not feel confident in joining his colleague players who rushed on the referee when he took his decision.
Initially, he stood aloof and watched his colleagues and the commotion from afar. The video clip is available at the GFA Secretariat and it is my hope that the PLB will liaise with one of our television networks to screen it as an educational material.
Indeed, at least, the Referees Committee may wish to undertake this. It would be in the interest of everybody, both winners and losers of the match.
The lesson here is very clear. As a football nation, we should try and increase the camera coverage of our football matches. The current situation where we use only one camera to cover matches does not help anybody.
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The foreign matches that we enjoy watching on our screens are covered by at least eight cameras. Together these eight or more cameras give us clear and accurate view of incidents and the decisions of referees, especially in tight situations like off-side and goal-and-no-goal decisions.
Our referees are doing their best. As at the end of Match Day Five, we can say that we have had fair and professional officiating. That does not include the Hearts of Oak/Bechem in which the referee clearly denied Hearts a penalty award when the team was leading 3-0.
That referee has been sanctioned by the GFA. We should therefore continue to be Good Winners and not Bad Losers. This season’s league is unique in standard of play, match attendance and officiating. We should all put our hands on the wheel of progress and growth.
Our passion for the game and the consequences of losing a match are such that we sometimes forget the standard of play of our own players and attribute our defeats to referees.
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Sure, we should criticise them when they under-perform but we should also learn to be Good Losers.