Sports Features of Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Source: raymond yeboah - sportsinghana.com

Allegation by Edubiase that referees support Chelsea is a fallacy

I was sad to hear from the president of New Edubiase FC, Abdul Salam Yakubu accusing gentle and renowned Kumasi based referee Eric Owusu Mensah on Happy FM that he was the cause of their defeat at home to the defending Glo Ghana Premier League champions Berekum Chelsea. That, Chelsea through referee Eric Owusu Mensah, control any referee that handle their matches.

He went on to say that, Edubiase has beaten Chelsea only once and even that match, referee Mensah had been given an away assignment outside Kumasi, meaning any time Chelsea play matches you could see referee Mensah at the venue even when he’s not on duty.

A toddler will even laugh over all this baseless allegations. Abdul Salam Yakubu should find a proper antidote to why he lost at home and should stop apportioning unnecessary blames. When Chelsea lost at Berekum to Medeama, did any one hear a cough from the Chelsea camp?

Abdul Salam Yakubu should admit to the fact that no team has a quality material than Chelsea in the Glo Premier League so it shouldn’t be a surprise when you lose to them. The goal Chelsea scored, not only did it create history of being the fastest goal in the league but it was a fantastic and clean goal. I was at the venue and l witnessed the game and there was no bad officiating, l even want the FA to telecast the match on national television for viewing public to access the game themselves.

It is about high time, the GFA Ethics Committee borrow the rule of punishing any team official like Abdul Salam Yakubu who publicly condemn and incur unfounded allegations to match officials as the English Premiership do. Edubiase should accept the fact that Chelsea is currently the best club in Ghana and they don’t need referee’s assistance to win their matches. Chelsea last year won the league on merit and they would emulate same feat this season too.

Abdul Salam should leave referee Eric Owusu Mensah alone to do his work as a quality referee and l even want the referees association to take Abdul Salam to task for bringing the good work of referees into disrepute. I was at Bekwai as Sportsinghana.com reporter, and I can declare that all what Abdul Salam said on Happy FM were lies at its apogee and he should come out with an apology to referee Eric Owusu Mensah and the league champions Chelsea.

Berekum Arsenal suffered from playing home away from home because of hooliganism. They were deprived from playing 3 of their home matches and l want the FA Disciplinary Committee to direct same sanctions to New Edubiase. Their fans hurled so many missiles during the game at the entire Chelsea team, l was a witness to that incident so the FA could contact me for proof.

I will lead the crusade by writing such articles to stop hooliganism in our league so that we get people to watch the league matches. Thanks very much.