Africa-Press – Liberia. The Liberia Football Association (LFA) Referee Standing Committee has suspended with immediate effect the services of eight of its referees for a time interval ranging from three weeks to one year.
The decision stemmed from a meeting on Monday, January 3, 2022 conducted based on what the committee called ‘’complaints and none complaints from clubs’’.
Those suspended are FIFA referee Sylvina Garnett, Class ‘A’ referee Fedelsco Bestman, Senior Assistant referee Abraham Fahnbulleh, Moses Johnson, James Numaryan, John Fallah, George Monbo, and Spencer Blawah.
Following a meeting to assess the performances of its referees, the committee suspended Spencer Blawah for one year after the referee was heard on tape saying ‘’lots of damaging things about his colleagues…’’. The committee described Mr. Blawah’s rants as untrue and unprofessional in line with the Professional Code of Conduct of Referees.
Moses Johnson, James Numaryan, and John Fallah were all suspended for three months respectively following their roles in the brawl that ensued before the last round of Group ‘A’ match between Montserrado and Grand Bassa Counties in the ongoing 2022 National County Sports Meet (NCSM).
Bestman and Fahnbulleh have been suspended for a period of three weeks respectively after they “wrongfully dismissed” a Freeport FC player (Gibson Freeman) for “trying to score with the help of a ‘’hand’’ in a league match with LISCR.
The committee believed that Mr. Fahnbulleh was included because he didn’t do much as “the most senior referee” to assist central referee Mr. Bestman after flagging for the handball.
Referee George Monbo was suspended for three (3) weeks following a 2nd Division league game between Junior Professionals and Tony FC in which the central referee “wrongfully awarded” a penalty to Tony for a handball.
Even though the penalty would be cancelled by Mr. Monbo following a hint from assistant Matthew Sloh, the committee believed Mr. Monbo had to be suspended for ‘’not performing his direct function’’.
Meanwhile, FIFA Referee Sylvina Garnett was also suspended for a duration of one month after she officiated in a top-of-the-table clash in Careysburg between Determine Girls and Ambassador FC in the Women Upper League.
Video evidents showed that the award-winning referee “wrongfully disallowed” an Ambassador’s goal when the score was 2-1 to Determine Girls and later called for a foul in favour of Ambassador but awarded a free kick when video evidence showed the tackle occurred in the penalty area.
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