By: Thomas Kojo Roulhac
Monrovia- Controversy is nothing strange to the National County Sports Meet and the Liberian National League, but the image of the country’s biggest sporting festival has been badly dented by the quarterfinal stage bizarre event, where referees have been criticized for poorly handling games.
There are over ten (10) referees including assistant and fourth officials involved in the ongoing National County Sports Meet. The list also includes some Liberian referees who have participated in the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
In the match between Nimba and Grand Gedeh, referee Josephus Torjilar early on denied a penalty from a close range for Grand Gedeh that was later called by assistant referee #1. That game ended 2-2 after full-time, causing the extra 30 minutes to be played on Monday due to poor visibility issues.
In Monday’s showdown, Grand Gedeh scored what was expected to be the winner but, to the surprise of the celebrating fans and journalists, referee Torjilar disallowed the goal due to what he termed as a foul on one of Nimba’s defenders.
His poor officiating led to Chao on the pitch following a post-match penalty shootout which Nimba won 4-2 to book a meeting with high-flying Lofa County. As many recommended, Josephus Torjilar’s controversial officiating of the game also led to him being expelled by
the Liberia Football Association with immediate effect from all LFA-organized activities.
The local football house said Torjilor’s expulsion was consistent with the Referee Committee’s report from the match Nimba vs Grand Gedeh in the ensuing National County Meet. According to them, his poor officiating brought referring and the game into disrepute and also caused grave damages and losses.
Meanwhile, many football followers say what happened in the game was crass incompetence on the part of referee Torjilar.
While the incident is still fresh in the memory of fans, another controversy erupted in the last quarterfinal game. This time, the Wologisi Boys of Lofa County who lost control of the game, were on the verge of drawing with Bomi before referee George Momo awarded a controversial penalty that opened the floodgate in a 2-1 win for Lofa County.
Bomi’s players protested against the penalty but it was still awarded at the end of a long protest. Lofa will face Nimba on Wednesday afternoon with the hope of either team getting a victory to seal a place in the final.
However, some football analysts and fans have criticized the ongoing poor officiating of referees in the ongoing tournament.
Former Liberia Football Association President, Musa H. Bility said the referee robbed lovers of football of a good football.
“The truth is hard and sometimes painful. Today, the referee robbed our people of good football. A goal for Grand Gedeh didn’t mean they would have won us. This is just wrong”, he said.
He continues” This referee must be punished. We are Nimba, and we have overcome greater challenges before. We didn’t need this help from him. While it didn’t mean victory for them, the goal they scored was perfect. Football doesn’t deserve this. The truth is the truth even if it’s against you. This was against us. The victory is undeserved” he posted on his official Social media handle a few hours after the game on Monday.
Former Monrovia City Mayor, Jefferson Tamba Kojiee, was one of the posters on social media.
“We like to condemn today’s vandalism and reported loss of life as a result of poor officiating of the game between Nimba and Grand Gedeh Counties”
“The Ministry of Youth and Sports and authorities thereof should without delay arrest the match officials for such broad day robbery that’s killing the beautiful game” he posted.
According to Koijee, the National County Sports Meet should be about reconciling the country, creating peaceful co-existence, and not imposing any county over the actual happenings on the pitch.
“Today’s happenings from start to finish were completely unfortunate and have once again sent an embarrassing signal for the future of good sportsmanship,” he said.
