Kunle Adelabu
Mr Hassan Olasunkanmi David, Chairman, Ikorodu Football Referees’ Society, has applauded the performances and management of the 2021 Ikorodu Divisional Football League.
The exception, according to him, was the unfortunate incident recorded during the Week 2 match between the Ultimate Villa FC of Ikorodu and Kareem FC of Imota which ended 1 – 1.
The Ikorodu Referees’ Society spoke with THE IMPACT in a brief interview recently.
He said that there has been improvement on virtually all aspects of the game.
“So far, it has been a good league season apart from the incident that happened during the Ultimate Villa v Kareem FC match”, Hassan said.
“Since the beginning of the season, the management of the game, particularly in the area of officiating, conducts of the teams and other aspects have been well applauded. In fact, we have been having away wins and nothing happened except in the Ultimate Villa FC and Kareem FC match and despite the unfortunate incident recorded, the match still ended 1 goal apiece without the home team losing.
“The standard of the officiating and play so far in the IDFA League has been very well applauded”.
The Chairman of the Ikorodu Referees’ Society, however, pointed out that the league managers need to look at the issue of security and improve on it while also calling for sponsorship.
“In the cause of the pre – season preparations, many issues like security were discussed and l think that now, these issues, especially the security aspect needs to be reconsidered in subsequent league matches. That is the only thing that I think should be looked into”, he said.
“Also, in terms of sponsorship, this will improve the quality of our league if sponsors can come in. This will go a long way in addressing most areas that still need attention”.
He assures that the Referee’s Society, which has proven itself at the state and national levels, will not let the Ikorodu people down and will gives it best during the 2021 Divisional league matches.
“We are not going to let the division down in terms of officiating. In the past years, the IDFA had really been very supportive to the Referees’ Society in Ikorodu and we have been proving their support in practical terms.
“We emerged as the best Referee Society in the country about two years ago as declared by the President of the NRA President himself and presently, we are planning to organize another training programme for our match commissioners.
“Meanwhile, our training is a continuous thing. We don’t wait till we have an organized training programme. We usually have seminars, practical and theoretical engagements during our weekly training days. Definitely, there is no stopping in our training.
“ It is a continuous training. We never stop and we will not stop”, he said.
“Just recently, the Ikorodu Football Referees’ Society produced the first female centre referee in Lagos State, Akintoye Yemisi. She’s the current FIFA badge Referee”.
On recruitment into the society, Hassan said that they encourage younger ones because of age and strength needed in facing the rigor of training, keeping fit and officiating a match. However, he said that the membership is open to anyone interested but such must be disciplined.
“Recruitment of referees in Ikorodu has been so encouraging and open to anybody that is interested but we have our laid down conditions.
“Refereeing is all about character building. So, discipline is our watchword in the society. Once you know that you are disciplined, then, you can come and join. Although, we encourage the younger ones to join because of their age as some people in certain age bracket will not find it easy to cope with what is required to be a referee.
“We do have our fitness test all the time and if age is catching up on you, then, it will be difficult for us to pass or to even perform at the optimal level”.
