Referee Wilson Sey: The man who officiated the May 9 clash between Hearts and Kotoko
It has been 19 years since Ghana recorded one of the bloodiest football tragedies in world football, with 126 football fans perishing at the Accra Sports stadium after a Hearts vs Kotoko clash in the Ghana Premier League.
Read full articleToday, as the country and the world remembers those who lost their lives in that unfortunate tragedy, we throw the spotlight on the referee who officiated the game on the bloody Wednesday night.
In the last couple of years, retired referee Wilson Sey has been speaking about the events of the day and although he wished things didn't end the way they did, he insists he has no regrets about his performance which many people say prompted the violence that led to the May 9 disaster in 2001.
The Cape Coast referee was accused for allowing Ishmael Addo's purported offside goal to stand to draw Hearts of Oak level after Lawrence Adjei had opened the scoring for Asante Kotoko.
Addo struck later on to win the game for the Phobians before their home fans at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Angry fans started throwing missiles onto the pitch in protest of referee Sey's decision with some supporters claiming he disregarded a flag by his assistant referee signaling Ishmael Addo was in an offside position.
The situation escalated resulting in the firing of teargas into the stands.
Over 120 people were later reported to have died in one of the worst stadium disasters in Africa.
But Wilson Sey who is now a retired referee remains adamant he has no regrets especially in taking the crucial decision that is believes to have served as a catalyst for the disaster.
"I only got to know of the incident when I returned to our hotel," he told Kasapa FM.
"We put in our all on the day."
Two years ago, during the commemoration of the disaster, Sey maintained he is not to blame for the incident. He spoke to Tv3's Yaw Ofosu Larbi.
