Nana Oduro Sarfo, a member of the Executive Council of the Ghana Football Association, has chided clubs for their belittling accusations against referees in the Ghana Premier League.
In recent years there have been a series of accusations meted out to referees not only in the Ghana Premier League, but in the lower leagues over bad practices in the sport.
The incidents at the Tuba Astro Turf on Sunday, January 5, 2025, in the game between Dreams FC and Accra Lions were nothing new to the game.
The losing side, Accra Lions, released an official statement expressing their utmost disappointment at the questionable calls made by referee Maxwell Hanson, while insinuating that the referees resort to what they do because they are being owed by the GFA.
Speaking to Nana Darkwa Gyasi in an exclusive interview on the Sports Pack show on Max FM, Nana Oduro Sarfo spoke against clubs like Accra Lions, calling the integrity of Ghanaian referees into question.
“The integrity of the referees is belittled when that happens. Some of them [referees] have quality jobs they do outside refereeing. Charles Bulu, for instance, is a senior immigration officer. Julian Nunoo is an auditor at the Audit Service. Daniel Laryea is at the Ghana Education Service.
Some are bankers, soldiers, security officers, etc. So when accused of acting the way they do because they are being owed, then you belittle and disrespect them,” he said.
Nana Oduro Sarfo, who doubles as chairman for GPL side Berekum Chelsea, attributed the arrears owed to referees to a lack of funds, especially with the league having no headline sponsor and broadcasting money.
