As league coasts home, Ndubuoke charges LMC to…
NRA insists on no ECG, no COPA test
By George Aluo and ROMANUS UGWU, Abuja
Former chairman of Heartland FC of Owerri, Fan Ndubuoke has charged the League Management Company (LMC) to keep a close tab on the referees being appointed to officiate matches, with just three more weeks to the end of the season.
Ndubuoke noted that with most of the clubs desperate to win matches to either win the league or escape relegation, the LMC can not afford to fold its arms and allow a few persons mess up the good job it has done all through the season.
“Everybody involved in the league have done well this term. The LMC has been getting accolades, but this is the time to ensure the season ends well. There has been complaints of late over officiating and what the LMC should do is to ensure it keeps a close tab on the referees. The LMC must not allow desperate clubs to influence the referees.
The referees appointment committee must also ensure that they don’t give matches to referees that would compromise. All the clubs must given a level playing field in the last three games of the season,” Ndubuoke said.
He added that the complaints from some clubs over poor officiating calls for concern, hence the need for LMC to act fast and protect the integrity of the league.
“We must not return to the cash and carry era now that we are getting it right,” Ndubuoke said.
With just three more matches left, leaders Rivers United, Rangers, FC IfeanyiUbah and Wikki Tourists are jostling for the title, while Heartland, Abia Warriors, MFM and Warri Wolves are battling to escape relegation.
Ikorodu United, in spite of their late resurgence, are already confirmed for relegation alongside Giwa FC that have since been expelled from the league.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA) has warned Nigerian referees intending to undergo COPA test to get FIFA badge not to attempt coming to participate in the test scheduled for the last week of this month and first week of next month without a certified Electrocardiography (ECG).
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Referee consultant, Linus Mbah who made the disclosure in a chat with Daily Sunsports in Abuja, lamented that they had to turn back many of the referees that wanted to be part of the test last week for not being ECG compliant.
While warning that it is no longer going to be business as usual in recruiting the referees, Mbah hinged the decision to turn back the referees on avoiding the preventable deaths recorded in the past during the test, revealing that October 2 is the closing date.
Disclosing further that five referees could not make the final screening hurdle during last week’s exercise, Mbah assured that the referee family are perfecting every arrangement to ensure Nigeria referees officiate in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.
“We had to shift the screening because many of the referees came for the exercise without their ECG and doctors advised that they should not be part of the exercise because we don’t want to record any casualty like in the past when some referees died participating in the test.
“We had warned them not to come without their ECG yet many of them came thinking that it is going to be business as usual. We are shopping for a total of 26 persons in the categories of six referees, seven assistants for men and three referees and four assistants women category while Five Aside and Beach Soccer get five each. The closing date for the applications is October 2,” he noted.
On the possibilities of Nigerian referees officiating in the FIFA World Cup finals, Mbah said: “They cannot officiate considering the level they are now. I want to assure you that they will certainly get there and if they cannot officiate in Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup, they would certainly do so in the Qatar 2022 edition. We are in the process of grooming young reliable Nigerian referees to take up the challenges and I have no doubt it will materialize.”