Referee Sessay handed four-match ban

Referee Hamid Sessay has been handed a four-match ban for his poor performance in the Ghana Premier League match between Great Olympics and WAFA in Accra last week.

The GFA Referees Committee took the decision after receiving two complaints from Olympics on the performance of Referee Sessay.

According to a statement issued by the Ghana Football Association (GFA), the first complaint was a penalty claim after Gladson Awako "was heavily brought down" inside the penalty box in the 62nd minute of the match.

Complaints

However, the committee said the second complaint related to a foul on the same player in the 70th minute which Olympics again felt was a penalty.

“After a critical review, the committee found that the referee was correct not to give a penalty in the complaint on the 62nd minute because the incident happened outside the box and there was no contact between the defender and the attacking player.

“However, it was found out that the second incident merited a penalty because the defender brought down the Olympics forward in the penalty box in the full view of the referee.

The referee, therefore, made a clear and obvious error in ignoring it.”

The committee also found that Referee Sessay was generally not at his best in the game in question.

“It was, therefore, recommended that a four-match ban be placed on Referee Sessay for the clear and obvious error.

The length of the ban takes into account the fact that this is the first infraction on his part this season,” it explained.