Ref Gyasi On The Carpet
FIFA Referee Samuel Gyasi brought local refereeing under the spotlight once again after both Hearts of Oak and Ashantigold questioned his decisions in last Sunday’s SWAG Cup triumph by Ashantigold in Accra.
The encounter, which recorded penalty misses of monumental nature, left Ashantigold’s Coach David Duncan still questioning why organisers of the annual event stuck with local referees “for a special cup tie” inspite of his earlier misgivings.
“I anticipated this, and that was why I requested for a foreign referee before the match,” he told Graphic Sports yesterday despite his side’s 3-2 victory on penalties.
Ackah Anthony, president of SWAG, said the request for a foreign referee never came to the notice of the Association officially.
But Coach Duncan insisted that “you don’t need me to tell about what happened in the match in Accra.
Our referees need to be professional.”
“We missed some chances, but we should have won in normal time play if the referees were fair to us,” he argued.
Those were milder words from the outspoken Coach Duncan whose gestures lasted throughout proceedings anytime the referee’s decisions were not favourable.
But Referee Gyasi, adjudged by the Premier League Board (PLB) to be the best in the domestic league just two seasons ago, was also the object of boos and jeers by the Hearts fans whose team hardly showed the fine form that had attended their Top 4-winning campaign.
Known for his firmness and strict application of the rules, Referee Gyasi has risen to FIFA status quickly since tasting premiership football barely three years ago.
That he was the choice of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana for the second leg match was testimonial of the respect he had earned, and the faith and confidence the match organisers had in him.
Indeed, Graphic Sports is reliably informed that in the 2008/2009 season when other top class referees ran away from a Hearts-Kotoko second round fixture in Accra, it was Referee Gyasi who salvaged the situation when he stepped up to the challenge and discharged affairs with near distinction.
All fine adjectives that had described his brilliance in previous outings began to fade last Sunday with every move by Duncan. And when the Hearts fans, who were virtually the sole souls in the stands, joined the fray, it exposed the frailties of the referee, including his decision to ignore Moro Abubakar’s blatant push on Ashantigold’s Frederick Quayeson in the Hearts’ penalty area on the 30th minute.
Duncan’s rantings, however, touched other raw nerves as his counterpart on the Hearts bench, Paa Kwesi Fabin, sometimes engaged him in a bench-to-bench argument over proceedings.
Those memories of Duncan will remain for long, but fans on both side will hardly forget the drama of penalty misses that characterised the shoot-out.
Out of 12 kicks, the two sides scored a combined five, a drama spectacle that even Duncan said was most unexpected.
In the Otumfuo Cup the previous week, Ashantigold had progressed from the early stages after accounting for Bechem Chelsea on penalties, scoring all five on that occasion.