GFA bans referee Emmanuel Odoom for rest of season

The Match Review Panel of the Ghana Football Association has banned referee Emmanuel Odoom for the rest of the season.

The decision was taken after the panel reviewed a Division One League match he officiated. The game in question was between Kotoku Royals and Accra Lions.

In a complaint to the panel, the aggrieved club Accra Lions told the match review panel that referee Emmanuel Odoom awarded a bad penalty to Kotoku Royals in the 2nd half of the game.

They added that the shot at goal by a player of Kotoku Royals (which led to the penalty) was blocked by an Accra Lions player with the chest. Accra Lions FC claimed that the incident was too glaring for the referee who was about 10 meters from the action to have missed. They also said that the hand of the Accra Lions player was in a natural position and thus the decision by Referee Emmanuel Odoom was unconvincing and doubtful.

Lastly they stated that in the 70th minute, the referee awarded a dubious penalty which also led to a yellow card shown out captain Richmond Tetteh Ankrah (No. 4).

The Match Review Panel observed that there was no hand ball incident in the earlier incident. It was found that the ball rather hit the chest of the player as such there was no foul committed, therefore the penalty was wrongfully awarded. This changed the outcome of the match.

The panel therefore took a decision to suspend referee Emmanuel Odoom for the rest of this season’s football activities.