NFF approve sanctions meted by Referees Committee on erring officials
It would be recalled that during the inauguration of the NFF Referees Committee, the President, Ibrahim Musa Gusau had implored them to be of good character
The Board of the Nigeria Football Federation has endorsed the first evaluation report, including sanctions, meted out to erring officials by the Federation’s Referees Committee headed by Faith Irabor.
It would be recalled that during the inauguration of the NFF Referees Committee, the President, Ibrahim Musa Gusau had implored them to be of good character and to live up to the ethics of their profession.
As a further step, Alhaji Gusau had has ordered the General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi the task of always putting a call through to all referees on arrival at their assignment venues, to remind them to discharge their duties efficiently and about the sanctity of fidelity to the laws of the game.
Despite these exhortations and reminders, a few officials had failed to abide by the rules and regulations, failed the diligence test and have accordingly been sanctioned by the Referees Committee. These sanctions have now been approved by the NFF Board.
Officials sanctioned include those officiated in the NPFL matches between Wikki Tourists FC and Niger Tornadoes FC, Madu Patience Ndidi of Enugu, a referee.
Olajire said, “It was identified that an incident occurred in the penalty area, which she whistled and signaled for a penalty kick and instantly changed her decision for a goal as the ball eventually proceeded and resulted in a goal. After thorough analysis, it was concluded that: A foul was committed and the referee signaled for a penalty kick;That the goal resulted from a dead ball, and therefore, the advantage clause is not applicable in this instant situation; That the referee should have maintained her decision of penalty kick; That she committed an error of judgment in allowing the goal. She is warned and advised to always consider the larger picture by appropriate scanning and delay decision until there is a clear certainty to justify a decision.”
The second is the match between Shooting Stars Sports Club and Kwara United FC: The officials of the match were Ukah Ndubuisi (FIFA), Imo, referee and Otuwho Morrison, assistant referee 2 from Delta.
Said Olajire, “It was observed that during a build-up, which resulted in a goal, the AR 2, Otuwho Morrison signaled to penalized the scorer for an offside offense. The referee complied with his assistant to disallowed the goal.
“After proper examination of the clip, it was inferred that: As at the time the ball leaves the leg of the kicker (teammate of the scorer), the scorer was not in an offside position; The AR2 was not properly positioned to justify the decision to penalize the scorer for offside offense. The referee is warned and advised to improve on his performances as the duty to identify/establish offside position is purely that of the AR; The AR2, Otuwho Morrison is to be stand down from the league”
In the match between Rivers United and Niger Tornadoes handled by Faro Abdulrahman from Lagos, The NFF Communications Director said, “The committee noted that after a corner kick was taken, the ball traveled into the penalty area with the defending goalkeeper coming out and attempted to parry the ball away, which he missed and an attacking player kicked the ball and scored. The referee signaled for an infringement to disallow the goal. The committee explored the video clip thoroughly to observe that: There was no illegal contact that could translate into a foul by the attacking team; The decision of the referee to disallowed the goal is not within the provisions of the laws of the game, and therefore, unjustified. The Referee, Abdulrahman is to be stand-down from the league”
