Ghana’s national carrier, Intercity STC Coaches Limited, has agreed to support referees in three flagship competitions of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

After accepting a GFA proposal for a symbiotic relationship, Intercity STC has offered a 50% reduction on all referee travels for the upcoming season.

The agreement was reached on Tuesday, July 28, 2020, when Executives of the GFA, led by President Kurt E.S Okraku called on the management of the state-owned transport operator at their Headquarters in Accra.

Executive Council member Nana Sarfo Oduro and Referees Manager Alex Kotey accompanied the President to the meeting with support for referees in the Premier League, National Division One League, and the Women’s Premier League being top of the agenda.

Intercity STC Coaches Limited were represented by Managing Director, Hon. Nana Akomea, Deputy Managing Director (Operations), Kwabena Sintim-Aboagye, and other senior management members.

“This is our contribution towards the development of football in our country,” Managing Director Hon. Nana Akomea said during the meeting.

This deal will ensure that the cost burden on our referees is lessened and they will travel on the safest Intercity STC Coaches which is very comfortable and has good Wi-Fi connectivity.

The post GFA, Intercity STC seal partnership agreement for referees first appeared on Sahara Football.

The Referees Association of Ghana are looking to schedule a meeting with the Ghana Football Association following unpaid allowances before the league’s suspension due to the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

The Ghana Premier League started on 28th December 2019, amidst lots of excitement and buzz, where fans trooped into various match venues to support their clubs to victories.

Information from close sources indicates that the referees have only received allowances for four matches officiated, despite handling games till matchday 15.

Each referee receives GHC 780 after-tax per game as allowance for handling men’s game whiles the women receive GHC 468 per match.

Referees are important stakeholders of the game and it remains to be seen if their allowances will be paid in record to avoid any inquest following Anas’ expose some years back into the activities of the men with the whistle on the pitch.

Globally, 597,458 confirmed cases, 27,370 deaths while 133,373 persons have duly recovered.

In Ghana, the situation is on the ascendancy, with 137 confirmed cases with four deaths and two person’s recovery.

The Ghana Premier League has been postponed in view of a Presidential directive to curb the increasing number in the country.

The post GPL: Referees cry over unpaid salaries first appeared on Sahara Football.

The Ghana Football Association Normalization Committee have responded to the letter sent by the Referee Association of Ghana over unpaid fees.

The Referee Association of Ghana released a letter on Monday announcing that they have suspended any football officiating related activities in the Special Competition due to the fact that they haven’t been paid.

The Normalization Committee’s statement states that the body is still waiting for budget approval from the Ministry of Youths and Sports, and have written to remind them to approve funds for the Special Competition.



Full Statement: 

The Normalisation Committee (NC) has officially been informed by the Referees Association of Ghana (RAG) by a letter dated 6th May 2019, that due to the non-payment of officiating fees to its members, effective Tuesday, May 7th, it will suspend officiating matches.

The NC has notified the Ministry of Youth & Sports about this latest development as it continues to wait for funds contained in the approved budget for the competition including officiating fees for referees, to be released.

The NC remains confident that the Ministry of Youth and Sports will fulfill its obligations per the budget approved for the NC Special Competition. The NC appreciates the existing collaboration between the Ministry of Youth and Sports and itself.

For the avoidance of doubt, our doors remain open to the media for any clarification on all matters relating to the NC Special Competition.

The NC wishes to assure the sporting public and all football stakeholders that it is committed to restoring sanity, transparency, and accountability in its efforts to revive public and corporate confidence in Ghana football. However, these efforts shall require the cooperation of all stakeholders.

We continue to call for peace and decency brotherhood and unity at all football matches in the country.

COMMUNICATIONS TEAM

GFA- NORMALISATION COMMITEE

The post NC release statement after Referees suspend officiating in the Special Competition first appeared on Sahara Football.

Referee Association of Ghana announced on Monday morning that they will suspend all activities relating to officiating games in the Special Competition due to unpaid salaries.

According to a statement released by the referees, the Referees Association of Ghana failed to redeem all outstanding debt promised them before the end of April.

The failure on the part of the Association has forced the officials to suspend activities in the remaining games.

Below is the statement from the referees:



SUSPENSION OF MATCH OFFICIATING BY REFEREES

We write to inform you that the Referees Association of Ghana after carefully deliberating on your failure to redeem your promise of paying all outstanding officiating fees owed our members before close of April 2019, we decided to call on all our members to suspend handling all football match officiating at all levels and at all league centers from tomorrow, 7^th May 2019.



RAG is compelled to take this tough decision because several letters were written drawing your attention to the unpaid officiating allowances and other things which were consistently not attended to. All RAG members owed are finding it difficult to travel to match venues due to the unpaid allowances.

Apart from this, RAG National Executives also placed several calls to various Executive Members of the Normalization Committee without any favorable feedback.

As a result of the above, members of Referees Association of Ghana have the firm instruction to SUSPEND all activities relating to match officiating from tomorrow until all issues relating to outstanding unpaid officiating fees and other Referee challenges are immediately resolved.



By a copy of this notice, all Referees Association of Ghana, Regional Chairmen are to immediately notify all Referees within their Regions about this suspension immediately until otherwise advised by the RAG, National Secretariat.

The post Referees to suspend officiating in the Special Competition first appeared on Sahara Football.