Regional chief cautions Upper East referees

The chairman of the Referees Association of the Upper East Region,

Dawood Ouedraogo has commended members of the association for their sterling

performance for the year 2012. The region can confidently boast of six referees

officiating in the Glo Ghana Premier League with many more also officiating in

the FA Cup and the National Division One League.

Ouedraogo said this in an interview with Gbc Ura Radio Sports in

Bolgatanga after their annual get-together in the Upper East Regional capital.

“I must say I’m very proud of my colleague referees in this region

for their excellent performances for the past year both on and off the field. Our

region came first in the fitness test which took place late last year and I am

very proud of that because if out of ten regions, we were first, I want to

believe it’s a very good thing for us and the strength of refereeing is on the

high pedestal,” Mr. Ouedraogo said.

He noted: “Looking at our performance in the Premier League, none of

our referees was invited to the referees’ review panel for interrogation on

their performance but rather most of them were recommended for promotion.”

Ouedraogo who is the only FIFA referee in the region and a tutor

at Bolgatanga Senior High School however cautioned his fellow referees to

eschew the habit of frowning on the ethics of the profession, thereby chasing

after bribes to favour one particular team during officiating.

“Morality is very important in our profession and I will only

advice my fellow referees to be morally upright whenever they are officiating

matches by avoiding taking bribes and allow the team that played well to win

the match,” he warned amid stressing that the association will only promote

people based on their performance and commitment to the game.

As part of their annual get-together, a football match was played

between the Bolgatanga referees and their counterparts from Navrongo at the

Bolgatanga Sports Stadium. The match ended in a 2-1 win for the Bolgatanga

branch referees.