President of the Ghana Football Association Kurt Edwin Simeon Okraku has admonished elite referees to be professional in their dealings and work hard to bring Ghana back to where we belong in the football eco-system. He said his administration will continue to invest in referees to make the profession attractive and lucrative.
President Simeon-Okraku said this when he visited the elite referees at the Ghanaman Centre of Excellence at Prampram during their training ahead of the 2021/22 season that will kick off on Friday, October 29, 2021.
‘’We have a new season around the corner, one that promises to be an exciting one, a season that could be very challenging and so all of you have to rise up’’ he said
‘’I expect all of you to give your best and play your part in ensuring a successful season again.
‘’We had an amazing football last season, one that gave us everything, the good and the bad. Not only on the pitch, but from officiating and I am very proud to say you did very well.
‘’Forget about people who try to interpret the law they don’t know, we watched some amazing performance last season from some of you and we had a few of you who didn’t do well but that is why we are here.
‘’Thank you for your wonderful performance last year, most of you did well and comported yourself very well and I encourage you to stay in line. I will encourage all of you to be for each other, support each other. I encourage all of you to be in line and if you don’t, you will be out because we want the very best.
‘’Let me thank our Physical and Technical instructors for all the help and hard work you have been putting in. We all have one vision, to excel in our part of the football ecosystem but we all have different ways of arriving so you may not agree with me on how I want to arrive but ultimately I expect all of us to arrive.
‘’We all know what our refereeing went through and all of us have the responsibility to bring Ghana back to where we belong.
‘’We started this journey to invest in referees, to invest in our offices, offer training to our officials, roll out policies that will improve their well-being and ensure they are protected at game centres.
‘’We started last year with intervention to help your profession, investing in communication gadgets which has helped the job you perform the job and I know going into the new season, you will protect the gadget well’’ President Simeon-Okraku added.