The Communications Director for the Ghana Football Association, Henry Asante Twum, has commended Happy 98.9 FM advocacy program on the RespectTheReferee campaign which aims to educate the public on the laws of the game.
According to him, the initiative is one that will remind the stakeholders on the need to respect the rules of the game and also use the various approved channels to seek redress.
“This initiative is very good and I commend Happy 98.9FM for this program. We all sometimes need to be reminded”, Henry Asante Twum said during the launch of the program on Happy Sports on Happy 98.9FM.
Henry Asante Twum opined that sometimes the poor performance of referees in the game affects the integrity of the competition leading to calls for the game to be replayed.
He explained that for now there is no rule that allows for a game to be replayed.
“If referees don’t perform, it affects the integrity of the competition. If we want to do something as an association, it has to do with sanctions that will go to the referees. Currently, there is no rule in our statutes that will allow us to repeat a game because of a bad decision of a referee. Aside from punishment that will go to the referee, we cannot have a replay or anything like that in our competition’s regulations or statutes.
“We can go to congress to have such discussions whether to have a replay should that happen in the future. It’s why I am happy we have such a program to discuss it”.
“Now rules have changed so it’s likely in the next four years the rules can change. So we will be engaging with the stakeholders”, he added.
What is RespectTheReferee Campaign?
The Respect the Referee program is an educational and advocacy campaign to educate the fans and public on the laws of the game.
Its main target is to educate the public on the need to desist from assaulting referees during and after games.