Ghana’s new FIFA list

Last Friday, January 10, new FIFA badges were presented to some Ghanaian referees, both male and female, who have been licensed as FIFA referees and assistant referees for the year 2014.

This ritual is performed annually after aspiring referees have been taken through refresher courses, matches and rigorous physical fitness tests.The annual review of the list ensures that those who qualify to wear the badges do not take their positions and status for granted.

The badges, therefore, do not come cheap.

On the male list, two new referees - Daniel Laryea and Prosper Adi - have taken the places of Samuel Kofi Gyasi and Thomas Nunoo.

Laryea and Adi have thus joined the elite group comprising Joseph Lamptey, William Agbovi, Cecil Fleischer, Reginald Lathbridge and Seidu Bomison. The list of assistant male referees, however, remains almost the same as last year’s.

Societe Generale Bank Manager, George Seija, who withdrew his own name out of dissatisfaction with the treatment being meted out to him by the authorities, has had his place taken by Eric Nantiere from Wa.

The existing old ones are A. S. Malik, David Laryea, Ibrahim Adams, Dawood Ouedraogo, David Agyin and Ashitey Armah. Concequently we have maintained our seven middle and seven assistants.

For the female middle referees, Joyce Ohenewaa has been added to the existing list which includes Theresa Bremanso, Christie Zigah and Delight Alorbu.

The female assistant referees also have two new faces — Millicent Kano and Theresa Akogram — who have joined Beatrice Thaude and Emmanuella Aglago. That gives Ghana four middle female referees and four female assistant referees.

All together, the nation can boast 14 male and eight female FIFAs respectively. It must be pointed out that the distribution or placement of international referees varies from country to country. While a few member countries have none, some have more than others.

Going by the current FIFA list and just by way of sampling, Italy, Germany, Mexico, France and Brazil have 20 middle and assistant male referees. Argentina has 19, while Denmark, Greece, Belgium, Austria have 17 FIFA referees and assistants.

In Africa, the highest is South Africa (15), while Ghana, Algeria and Morocco have 14 each. 

Togo has 10 and Nigeria 13. In the case of Ghana, we have continuously had seven middle and seven assistant FIFA referees. And that is our quota. The problem we have in Ghana, therefore, is not the number of FIFA referees.

The problem is also not the performance, nor the quality. The problem is the age of our FIFA referees.

FIFA invests heavily in the training of its referees.

There are so many instructors like our own Joseph Wellington who have been employed to run refresher and training courses through the length and breadth of the world. Therefore, FIFA would like to train and invest in referees it can utilise over a long period. It, therefore, concentrates on those referees who are around 30 years.

Those who can handle about four of five World Cups before they attain the compulsory retiring age, of 45.

But for his age, referee William Agbovi, for example, is well qualified and suited to officiate at next June’s Brazil World Cup. He is 41 years old now and if he should go to this year’s World Cup, he will not by age be available for the 2018 World Cup.

And so he would have done only one World Cup and go waste.

We are part and parcel of FIFA; we should, therefore, go by the FIFA guidelines and operate with it accordingly. For this reason, the inclusion of 27-year-olds Daniel Laryea and Prosper Adi on the FIFA list is commendable.

They should be well managed and assisted to be among the elite Africa, referees within the next five years.

Lobbying and public relations are not crimes. They are business promotion tools. There are people who have gone to Legon and other places to pursue courses of study in these areas.

Our lead referee, Joseph Lamptey, could have been in Brazil, but he has suffered a lot of frustration at CAF.

Every referee makes a mistake or misses an offence on the field of play. I am told he had a problem in an El Ahly vs Esperance match about two years ago and the Egyptians have never forgiven him.

His physical fitness is above board and they use medical exam to retard his progress. We are lucky that we have someone within CAF now. Otherwise, he would have been debarred from officiating in the South Africa CHAN 2014 tournament.

Our leaders in football should not feel shy about protecting our own. CAF is headquartered in Egypt and the Egyptians appear to have taken advantage of it. But CAF is not for any single African country.

As we try to put our own house in order and project our best, we should not allow the personal agenda of any single CAF big man to disturb our progress.

With these two new young referees on the FIFA list, we should look for and train other young ones to follow. The problem we create for ourselves is that our leaders, because of political votes, do not pursue national policies all the time.

Right now, we have created a large number of aggrieved referees whom we promised to put on the FIFA list, but we have failed to honour our promises. They are all over the regions. I can name them and those who promised them. But what purpose will it serve.

I will humbly urge our referees to trust in and rely on God and not any RAG individual for their progress and success. It is only God who does not fail, but fellow human beings will fail and disappoint you.

The evidence is there in our individual lives if we care to examine ourselves.