Stop Paying bribes -Ex-Ref. Essel Walker

Former Referee, Essel Walker has moved from a referee to a magistrate court judge.

Speaking on the popular sports program ´Where are they´ on Happy FM, he said he was a qualified teacher from the University of Cape-coast even before he entered into refereeing.

´I had a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Cape-coast, officiating matches was more of a hobby for me´ he said.

He also denied rumors that referees did not have careers apart from officiating matches. He challenged the Happy FM sports team and Ghanaians to find out about the personal lives of referees in order to erase such perceptions from their minds.

Mr. Essel Walker said as a young boy growing up with a passion for football he did not like the way matches he played were officiated by some referees, pushing him to go into the field.

He shared the challenges of referees explaining it as, ´it is difficult to be fair because when you try to be fair you have problems with officials and players´.

He said sometimes they make wrong decisions because they do not have the chance of seeing the replay of matches which normally gives referees ´bad names´.

According to the former referee, he gave up the passion of officiating matches to give the young and up coming referees a chance to pursue their career. ´You cannot cheat nature when you are aging and lets not forget the fact that there are other people who will step into my shoes when I am no longer around´ he explained.

He advised Club Officials to stop pushing referees into accepting bribes. He said if the referees were not tempted they will not go out of their way to ask officials for money.

Mr. Essel Walker is a former referee and is currently a Magistrate Court Judge in Wenchi in the Western Region.