Agunbiade to NRA: Mandate Each State F.A to Get Communication Gadgets at Match Venues
Following the series of public outcry that trailed the snub of members of Nigerian Referee Association in the just concluded African Cup of Nations held in Cote d’Ivoire, a call has been made by one of the staunchest league followers and a critic of Football arbiters in Nigeria, Sunday Agunbiade popularly known as Mr VAR.
Mr. Agunbiade
Agunbiade while making his plea , advised the leadership of Nigeria Referees Association to make it a condition for each state FA to get a communication gadget for Football umpire ahead of the second stanza for both Nigeria Premier Football League and Nigeria National League, NNL.
According to the Ibadan based Sports journalist who doubles as CEO Varsportnow.blogspot.com in Nigeria, he noted that it was a global embarrassment to see that no single Nigerian Referee was good enough to be in AFCON.
CAF’s Head of Refereeing, Noumandiez Doue while clarifying reasons to journaliss in Abidjan said: “you have good Referees in Nigeria but you have to be the best to be in AFCON. Duoe added that good Referee’s are only selected for zonal competitions while the best are reserved for AFCON”. He clarified.
Mr VAR however appealed to the leadership of NRA to start with communication gadget and then, get a VAR into the leagues proper before the end of the season and put our officials at par with their colleagues in global best practices. In his words, he said:
“It is no longer news that Nigerians across the length and breadth of the world expressed deep disappointment over the snub of members of Nigeria Referees Association in the just concluded African cup of Nations held in Cote d’Ivoire and the response of the CAF’s Head of Refereeing, Noumandiez Doue clarified that Nigerian referees were good but the best referees are reserved for AFCON. Well, I think this is not a big task to fix if there is a will. I think the NRA can collaborate with the Nigeria Football Federation to mandate each state FA to get a commiunication gadget and make it available for referees when there is league match.”
“Save to note that in this global age, some set of referees have their own communication gadget but recently a particular state FA did not allow them to use it. I felt terribly bad on that day and the argument they made was that if they allowed them to use communication gadget, it would cause confusion. Right from there, I concluded that if all of us must not keep quiet in correcting this ill. If we do, then, our officials would continue to be snubbed in international football tournaments”
Mr VAR added that; Needless to state that most referees in Nigeria do not even know how to use the so called communication gadget, let alone VAR, how do we expect them to be recognized globally if they could not even use the basic technology amenities”
Agunbiade rhetorically concluded.
