By Stephen V. Lansana
The Union of Premier League Clubs (UPLC-SL) on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, strongly condemned the high level of poor and unfair officiating of matches, and urgently requested professionalism amongst referees while executing their tasks.
The Union made this comment following the recent decision of a Premier League club, Freetonians SLIFA to suspend its participation on all fixtures in the ongoing Sierra Leone Premier League 2022/23 until further notice.
It could be recalled that on Monday, January 23, 2023, the Freetonians SLIFA said in a statement that the club is extremely disappointed in the spate at which bad and terrible officiating from the referees’ department in the ongoing League especially the match between Port Authority V Freetonians SLIFA.
The Club demanded that the league be put on hold until Article 45 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone Football Association be met.
Article 45 states: “The referee’s committee shall implement and interpret the laws of the game. It shall appoint the referees for matches in competition organized by SLFA, organize refereeing matters within Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) in collaboration with the administration of (SLFA) and monitor the education and training of referees. It shall consist of a chairman, a deputy chairman and five members.”
The Union noted, “Many clubs have been meted down with same poor and unfair officiating. Thus leading to one of our members suspending its participation.”
The Secretary General of the Union, Mohamed Sesay disclosed in a statement on Tuesday that “as the major partners in the development of the game, the Union in strongest regard condemns the high level of unfair officiating and urgently requests professionalism amongst referees in the process of executing their tasks. Poor and unfair officiating holds no place in our game, but rather a continuation of such only leaves our game to degenerate.”
The Union also called on the Management of Freetonians SLIFA to kindly rethink its decision as they look at ways of addressing the issue to prevent future occurrences.
Meanwhile, the Union totally condemns club officials who had brutally targeted referees and bringing down violence on them as they discharge their functions. They noted that the game must be civil and played decently, without any fear and favour.
The Union called on authorities to ensure that proper mechanisms in tolerance of professional conducts are put in place to save the soul of our beautiful game.
Freetonians SLIFA is not the only Club questioning referees. It could be recalled that Mohamed Kallon, the owner of FC Kallon also posted on his Facebook page claiming that a referee told him that even if he holds a PhD in coaching, he [Kallon] will never win a match when he [the said referee] is officiating.
Following the comment of Mohamed Kallon, the Sierra Leone National Football Referees Organisation (SLNFRO) on January 20, 2023, refused to officiate any FC Kallon’s games – both Female and Male. According to SLNFRO, this was not the first time Mohamed Kallon has put up such attitude towards referees.
This follows a statement from the SLFA condemning the action of referees boycotting matches and vows to investigate further, stating that it has the respective bodies well-structured to look into issues of personal grievances without any person or group of persons having to hold the game to ransom.
The Union of Premier League Clubs also condemned the action of the SLNFRO to boycott a premier league match between Freetown FC and FC Kallon. “As a Union that seeks the welfare of its members and is highly focused on promoting our beautiful game, we see such a decision against FC Kallon as harsh, hasty, and very unprofessional.”
“Stopping the game from playing, hindering its continuation, and affecting an outcome is tantamount to putting the game into discredit. This is against the FIFA and CAF Codes of Conduct, and the SLFA Statute. The underlying principle is that the beautiful game should always play and all other disagreements and issues settled outside,” the Union earlier said.
The Union requested the following: that the Sierra Leone Football Association and the Premier League Board swiftly probe into the said matter and bring forward amicable solutions; that the SLFA and PLB engage the leadership of all Clubs to pursue the recommendation in point one above; that the match between Freetown City FC vs FC Kallon is rescheduled immediately and no later than this weekend.; maintain the integrity of the game.
SLNFRO said that they will continue to officiate all Premier League matches while SLFA investigates the matter.