The 2015/16 Ghana Premier League has gradually come to its final destination with Wa All Stars emerging as the champions with a game to go.
Many have complained about officiating with most sports journalists, football writers and researchers rating the performance of the knights of the whistle as nothing above average.
But what are the principal actors; coaches and players saying about the performance of referees this season?
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney once said “I play the game as honestly as I can. If the referee gives a penalty, there is nothing you can do.”
This quote by the famous football star goes to buttress the point that the men at the center have the power to determine the outcome of a game everywhere in the world.
As a result Ghanasoccernet.com has conducted a survey to ascertain the rate at which referees fared in the Ghana Premier League this season.
Two groups of respondents were used in this quick survey; coaches of all the sixteen teams and their captains.
Both respondents gave their responses separately without knowing what the other provided.
While most of the sixteen coaches rated the performance of referees as average, majority of the captains rated the referees below average.
Eight out of the sixteen coaches, representing 50% scored the performance of referees this season as 5 out of 10 while only two coaches rated referees 6 out of 10, representing 12.5%.
Three out of the sixteen coaches rated the referees 3 out of 10 representing 18.75% while another three out of the sixteen scored the referees’ performance by 7 out of 10 representing another 18.75% out of the total number of coaches.
On the part of the players, 43.75% of the captains rated the referees below an average of 5 out of 10 marks while four out of the sixteen captains scored officiating by 5 out of 10 representing 25% of the total number of captains.
Three captains scored them 6 out of 10 while only two captains scored them 7 out of ten representing 18.75% and 12.5% respectively.
What this means is that 50% of coaches in the league think the performance of referees is average this season while less than that number in their captains think the referees didn’t deserve even average performance.
The average performance of the referees and the captains this season has seen a reduction of 10% as the coaches scored an average of 60% last season per a similar survey conducted by Ghanasoccernet.com.
Frank Zappa, an American Music Writer and Film Director once said ‘Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.’
For our league to progress, let the authorities be ready to deviate from the norm.
Let this be a guide to the Ghana Football Association, the Premier League Board and the Referees Association of Ghana to improve upon refereeing in the upcoming 2016/17 league.
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