Referees' boycott of the league still looms

The threat to boycott this year's Star Premier League by the Ghana Referees Association (RAG) still looms as they are not satisfied with the recent upward adjustment of their fees.

A source close to the RAG said a FIFA badge referee now receives 120, 000 cedis per match instead of 100,000 while a Class One referee's allowance has been raised from 92,000 cedis to 111, 000 cedis, an increment, which they said, is a far cry from their demands.

The referees seemed to be infuriated by the consolidation of their transport allowance into the new remuneration and are calling for its restoration.

The source said RAG is not satisfied with the Professional League Board's (PLB) new proposal since it makes the referees worse off when the recent increase in fuel prices has hiked transport fares nation wide.

This is the second time that the referees have threatened to down their whistles in a week, the first was just before the start of the league but it took the timely intervention of the PLB to nip the intended strike in the bud.

Meanwhile our source disclosed that the Ghana Football Association (GFA) owns the RAG and the match commissioners 18.7 million and 20 million cedis respectively for officiating in last year's ABC FA cup matches.

This indebtedness, the source said, should not have happened, since the FA cup is a sponsored tournament, which sponsorship includes the cost of officiating.

It further casts doubts on the commencement of this year's F.A Cup, which is scheduled to begin next month.