Ghana’s Goodwill Sports Ambassador, Ray Quarcoo, has reiterated the need for high level officiating at all levels of sports, especially on the African continent.
The former Ghana Boxing Federation (GBF) president has been a campaigner of good officiating for decades following the falling standards in the recent past.
According to him, recent officiating calls in some sports, notably boxing and football, have raised doubt over fairness to participants.
He cited the just-ended African Cup of Nations (AFCON) hosted in Morocco where the performance of some referees stoked debate as a classical example.
The experienced sports administrator noted that the calls for fair officiating have come up because of the poor standards exhibited in games across the globe with Ghana and Africa are no exemption.
“In my view, officiating standards have come under scrutiny because of the repetition of basic errors as the same mistakes – poor foul recognition, inconsistent carding, and questionable VAR use – keep recurring across tournaments.
This usually have an impact on players and fans who lose confidence in the referee’s ability to be fair, while fans question the credibility of African football as it happened at the just ended AFCON in Morocco,” Ambassador Ray Quarcoo said.
On the global consequences, he emphasised that weak officiating at continental level undermines African teams’ ability to compete at the World Cup and Olympic Games, where refereeing standards are stricter.
The former Black Stars management member said in a post-AFCON tournament chat that “You know I have been preaching about good officiating in all sporting disciplines for many years, but we keep repeating mistakes by some referees.”
Ambassador Ray Quarcoo advocated good officiating for all teams, believing that referees are not learning or improving, despite repeated exposure to international standards.
He calls on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA to punish errant referees in order to protect the reputation of the game in African, adding that “The continent will be the loser in the end, especially at the world stage.”
Failure to adhere to this, he underlined, would result in loss of credibility for tournaments, reduced fan trust and eventually affect sponsorship.
He recommended continuous training and exposure to international standards, sanctions including demotions for referees who repeatedly err, ensure standardisation and transparency of VAR protocols and mentorship programmes.
“When our referees live up to expectation, then our teams do not have to struggle when they get to the world stage,” he added.
BY TIMES SPORTS REPORTER
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