Three coaches in the ongoing Ghana Premier League season were unhappy with how match referees officiated their games over the weekend.
Despite the Ghana Football Association and Referees Association of Ghana’s effort to bring sanity into the game it appears some coaches are still not happy with officiating in the Premier League.
Coach Abdul Karim Zito, Samuel Boadu and Prince Kofi blamed their defeats over the weekend to poor officiating.
21 goals were scored out of the nine games played over the weekend; five teams recorded home wins whiles two clubs won away from home while the rest ended in a draw.
Though Liberty Professionals were unable to pick up maximum points over Asante Kotoko despite the Porcupines scoring a contentious goal which left their goalkeeper injured, coach David Ocoloo did not accuse the referee for his sides inability to win in Kumasi.
The following are reasons why 3 coaches are unhappy with officiating in week 7.
Coach Abdul Karim Zito, Dreams FC
The Dreams FC coach was livid after the center referee, Eso Doh Morrision failed to award his side a penalty in their 1-0 defeat to Hearts of Oak.
According to coach Zito, referees are rather punishing them in a bid to impress GFA President, Kurt Okraku, the former Chairman of Dreams.
Zito told reporters after the game that referees should allow Dreams FC play their game fairly.
Coach said the following after the game;
“Eric Gawu went ahead with the ball and the player pushed him. I saw a penalty. We are being punished by certain things. Because the FA chairman ( Kurt Okraku) was the director of the club. He is no more at the club. He came here as a spectator.”
“They should leave us to play our football. I saw a penalty. This has been happening in many of our away games. The referees fear to give the decisions in our favor because they fear they will be accuse of helping the FA chairman’s club. Please they should allow us to play our football. Kurt is for no more with us.”
“Hearts of Oak is not a small club that you can say you will walk over them. They are a big club. We played well. We didn’t take our chances in the first half. We could have scored in the first but we wasted many chances.”
Coach Samuel Boadu, Medeama SC
Referee Charles Bulu was heavily criticized by Medeama coach Samuel Boadu in what was termed as a poor performance following the club’s 1-0 defeat to Aduana Stars.
The experienced referee left the Medeama coach outraged with his decisions at the Nana Agyemang Badu II park.
Yahaya Mohammed’s lone strike from a free kick gave Aduana an upper hand over the away team after a keenly encounter.
For coach Samuel Boadu the incident which led to the free kick was not the best of decision taken by Charles Bulu.
Coach Samuel Boadu told the media the following after the game;
"There is nothing wrong with my team. We played well with our tactical approach. Normally I don't talk about officiating, but this is uncalled for. The incident that happened before the free kick was not supposed to have stood.
"I still don't understand and know why he (referee) took that decision. When the ball travels, the ball is in play and so I am baffled how he claimed it was a foul.
"I haven't talked about officiating due to the policy of the club and myself but this is really low of a performance from a FIFA referee - This is really low class.”
Coach Prince Kofi, Great Olympics
WAFA SC ended Great Olympics 4 matches unbeaten run in the league with a 1-0 at Accra Sports Stadium.
Coach Prince Koffi blamed the referees for his sides inability to equalize Eric Asamany’s strike in the 25th minute.
The Coach believes his side were better on Sunday but results showed something different.
Prince Koffi told reporters;
“It is sad, I am not happy after putting up a splendid performance and not getting the results. At times if you have a very good performance it should reflect in the results unfortunately today it couldn’t happen that way and we lost.
“The referees performance today was abysmal that’s how I will describe him. He contributed to our defeat to be honest with you. I don’t normally complain about officiating but it has happened and you only have to accept it and go back to the drawing board and face King Faisal who are our next opponents.”
Coach Prince Kofi, Samuel Boadu and Abdul Karim Zito