Ghanaian referees perform poorly in exams as some score as low as 3.5%

The president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has lamented the poor performance of some Ghanaian referees in the theory tests conducted by the FA.

Kurt Okraku said some of the referees who took part in the test scored as low as 3.5% despite being seasoned officials in the Ghana Premier League.

The GFA president said this during his address at the Association’s 30th Ordinary Congress in Prampram on Tuesday.

“It is sad to note that results from the theory test conducted by the FA on refereeing have been extremely poor. Think about it, if we do not know the laws of the game and they are not at our fingertips, how do we implement or interpret the laws of the game?” Okraku fumed.

“I have charged the referees manager and the Referees Association of Ghana to be up on this identified problem. Knowledge levels on the laws of the game are too poor, and it’s not something we have to accept because it’s not okay,”

“When referees who have officiated in the GPL get as low as 20%, some getting as low as 3.5%, then you should know and understand that we have a problem.”

Ghana FA promises implementation of VAR

Meanwhile, the Ghana FA has also promised to introduce Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in the country’s football.

Addressing the media in Sunyani some weeks ago, Kurt Okraku said the FA was aiming to improve refereeing in the country and would, therefore, be rolling out some strategies.

He noted that the implementation of the VAR technology was likely to begin in the Ghana Premier League before being implemented in other competitions.

“We are going to introduce VAR into our football. Whatever we will do to introduce VAR into football, we will, as part of our overall strategy for improving refereeing starting from our GPL, we will. It’s coming,” Okraku said.

VAR was used in Ghana for the first time during the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoff first-leg game between the Black Stars and Nigeria in Kumasi.

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