Review Panel upholds decision to ban referee Gabriel Opoku and assistant Peter Dawsa

The Match Review Panel of the Ghana Football Asssscoaiition has upheld the earlier decision to ban referee Gabriel Opoku Arhin and assistant Peter Dawsa for the rest of the season’s football activities and half of the first round of next season.

This is Pursuant to the decision of the Appeals Committee of the GFA to set aside the earlier ruling by the Match Review panel and to grant the match officials hearing.

The hearing took place on Wednesday, June 16, 2021, at the GFA secretariat.

Read the full statement in the post below:

Review of Ashantigold SC vs. Hearts of Oak:(Match Day 19) after Appeals Committee decision

Pursuant to a decision by the Appeals Committee dated 27th May 2021, to set aside the decision of the Match Review Panel and to grant the match officials hearing, the panel during its sitting on 16th June 2021 granted the match officials hearing.

The panel wish to state that, during the sitting dated 15th April 2021, the panel granted Referee Gabriel Opoku Arhin hearing but did not hear from the Assistant Referee Peter Dawsa since the panel were satisfied with the explanations from the Match Referee (Gabriel Opoku Arhin).

Complaint by: Accra Hearts of Oak SC

The referee, Gabriel Opoku Arhin, and Assistant Referee Peter Dawsa were given the opportunity to explain their actions and inaction in the match between Ashantigold vs. Hearts of Oak after the videos were sent to them.

Both referee and assistant 2 agreed that the goalkeeper of Ashantigold, Kofi Mensah moved from the goal line before the kick was taken even though there was disagreement between the referee and assistant referee 2 as to whose duty it was to rule on the movement.

The argument that the ruling was not the sole duty of any of the two either the referee or the assistant defeats the principle of teamwork in refereeing.

The penalty decision by the referee which was adjudged as an error still holds even though the referee claimed the player made the body larger by the extension of his hand which is not true as per the law on handball. The ball was seen in the video as coming from his body before touching the player’s hands.

Decision

The recommendation that the referee, Gabriel Opoku Arhin, and his assistant Peter Dawsa to be suspended still holds. They are thus suspended for the rest of the season’s football activities and half of next season’s first-round (i.e., eight matches of next football season).