Referees are driving sponsors away, says club CEO

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“Referees are killing the country’s football”.

These are the words of Fredrick Wakhisi, the Secretary General of Division One side West Kenya Sugar.

According to Wakhisi, the Division One is most plagued with incidents of bias in match officiating, something he says is gradually driving sponsors away.

-Teams have been firing coaches over non-performance, but the problem is actually with the referees, Wakhisi told Futaa.com.

-It has now gotten to a point where we go for away matches not knowing what to expect in terms of referring and in some matches players are forced to give up early, knowing very well that the opponents have already bought a win.

How it is

Wakhisi also explains that the method of paying referees has been the primary cause of the growth of the vice.

-With teams sharing in the payment of referees, some opt to use the available mobile money transfer services.

-This essentially makes any shoddy payments virtually untraceable.

-The same is the case with teams which decide to release their officiating payments later. We can never quite know what plans they have up their sleeves.

Appeal

The chief executive then called on the Football Kenya Federation to look into the issue, before the situation gets out of hand.

-Sponsors want teams to perform, and when we find ourselves losing in such crooked ways, then the only likely consequence is that they would resign from supporting teams and put their money to other uses.

Standings

West Kenya are currently ranked sixth in the Western Zone of the country’s second tier.