Bad officiating; killer of African football.

I have played a league match that prior to the game, the centre referee told me to my face that irrespective of what my side play, we will never win the game. I was wide eyed! I had played games where the referee's biased officiating caused my team to loose but the effrontery shown by this particular centre man in telling me that my side will not win the game was entirely new.

The world cup qualifier between Black Stars of Ghana and Cranes of Uganda drew hisses from lips of many. Striker, Daniel Dwamena latched on to a ball that struck the upright to slot in from close range only to see his goal ruled offside. Let us not talk about the incident when Frank Achempong was tripped right inside the area but referee looked the other way.

Complaints from such games are always met with 'referees are human too'. I agree. But trust me, we are talking about cases where either the referees pocket is handling the whistle, officials have been intimidated to side the home team or simply officials are incompetent. Examples abound.

Apart from the clear fact that refeering is a career and should be taken seriously by practising referees, bad officiating is killing African football. This cancer is responsible for African presenting teams and athletes that aren't top notch to represent her in international competitions. This occurs because the officiating that produced such champions is outrightly flawed.

CAF and national associations haven't taken up the issue for cleansing and until they do, African football will go nowhere. The little progress registered by African football on the international scene is amoral. This is because the age cheat phenomenon is presently a norm in Africa. The implication is that twenty and thirty year olds are presented as under seventeens.

That is not to say that other continents don't have their officiating dilemma. They all do. However, what makes that of Africa tick is it's consistency. It's no news that a game is riddled with 'deliberate mistakes'. Rather it is news that a game is mistake free. Not good. Little wonder why most often, African referees are overlooked for international tournaments.

Until we get our officiating right, African football will not grow beyond what it is presently.

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