Former Vice President of the Ghana Football Association, Fred Pappoe has charged referees in the Ghana Premier League to display a sense of responsibility in protecting while officiating.
Determining the outcome of matches, he is convinced, sometimes depends on the individual brilliance of certain players and has therefore charged the referees to be guided by their duties in protecting the players.
In an interview on Accra based Asempa FM, Mr. Pappoe said, a lack of protection for players could injure the beauty of the game and also bring fledgling talents to an end through injury.
While he held praise for some of the referees in the just ended first round of the Ghanaian football top flight , Mr Pappoe trusts a lot could be achieved if the checks and balances by the Referees Association of Ghana are prioritised to restore sanity in the protection of players during officiating.
“There are certain offences that you cannot allow even if you have been influenced because truthfully, a lot lives, especially, the players and to a larger extent their families, depend on football to survive,” Mr. Pappoe opined.
“They have to protect the players at all times while discharging their duties professionally,” he added.
Fourty five centre referees issued a total number of 585 yellow cards and 22 red cards in the 153 games played in the first round of the Betpawa Premier League.
Referee Rustum Senorgbe has so far officiated seven games, making him the most used centre referee while referees Julian Nuno, Alfa Ba Adey and George Mawuli Vormawor followed wth six matches respectively.
Credit: Gottlieb Baako
