Referee nearly lynched for alleged bad officiating

Cape Coast, March 15, GNA - Class-one referee Yahaya Musah from Obuasi and three of his colleagues were nearly lynched by irate supporters of Cape Coast Venomous Vipers on Sunday, for alleged bad officiating.

The other officials are Muntake Mohammed, also from Obuasi and Paul Dosu from Kumasi as well as Gloria Adjei from Agona Swedru handled the Division One League match between Cape Coast Venomous Vipers and visiting Tarkwa Medeama at the Robert Mensah Stadium.

But for the swift response of the few policemen on duty, a different story would have been told as they saved the situation after a tough encounter with the angry supporters.

The supporters however managed to search and retrieve an amount of GH¢2,900 from the match officials.

The incident all started after referee Musah had whistled for the end of proceedings when supporters of Vipers broke the gate to the inner perimeter and attacked the officials with the few policemen on duty unable to control the irate crowd.

The Police quickly called for reinforcement from the Regional Police Headquarters but by the time they arrived at the scene the referee who had received some severe beatings, wept bitterly before he was whisked to the dressing room and later to the hospital together with his colleagues.

Mr Matthew Doe, Chairman of the Central Region Football Association has thus asked the Police to arrest the officials for interrogation. The attack might have been triggered by an action of the referee was=

perceived who have denied the home a glaring hand ball to award them a penalty after a Vipers' player who was in a good position to score was brought down in Medeama's goal area. The match ended 1-1. In Sekondi, the match between Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs and Sekondi Metro Stars ended goalless.