Banned Ghanaian referee Lamptey's history of questionable decisions

Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey‚ who is at the centre of a match fixing scandal involving Bafana Bafana‚ has a long history of controversial decisions‚ some of which will now be much more closely examined in the wake of his being handed a lifetime ban.

Lamptey was on Monday banished from the sport by FIFA for manipulating the result of South Africa’s 2-1 win over Senegal in World Cup qualification in Polokwane in November‚ which presents the possibility that world football’s governing body might order the match to be replayed.

The 42-year-old referee‚ whose father was also a FIFA match official and later a president of the Ghana Football Association‚ had been influenced to ensure South Africa won by betting syndicates‚ according to FIFA insiders.

Lamptey had already been suspended by the Confederation of African Football for his poor handling of the game where Bafana were handed a soft penalty and then scored from a quickly-taken free kick in quick succession.

Lamptey‚ an immigration officer at Kotoko airport‚ had previously been suspended by CAF in 2010 after allowing a ball punched into the net to stand when Tunisia’s Esperance beat Al Ahly 1-0.

Ghana media over the last days has listed a raft of suspicious decisions Lamptey made in domestic competition but his match fixing activities might have started more than a year ago in the African Nations Cup qualifiers.

His performance in a Group B match last March in Kinshasa was already flagged up on the Internet because it was so preposterous.

DR Congo were leading 2-0 over visitors Angola at the 90 minute mark when Lamptey added five minutes but stoppage time actually continued for nine minutes when Angola were handed a penalty despite there being little contact as two players went up for an aerial challenge.

The spot kick was converted and Lamptey immediately blew his whistle.

Investigation of the betting odds suggested Lamptey had been paid to ensure a 2-1 score line which had been the preferred score that betting syndicates had placed money on.