Monrovia – Liberia Football Association (LFA) Vice President Sekou Konneh has called for calm from the referee committee.
By: Christopher C Walker [email protected] 0777898224/0886723075
This follows accusations made by Liberia Football Referees Association (LIFRA) Vice President George Rogers against LFA referee manager Stanley Konah and the referee committee.
Appearing on the Okay FM sports desk on May 4, Rogers accused Konah of manipulating referees to influence results at the 2024 National County Sports Meet, which was won by River Gee. The retired Liberia international referee George Rogers termed the recent expulsion of Class-A referee Josephus Torjilor by the LFA as unlawful.
In his words, expelling Torjilor was unnecessary and done without proper investigation. The former Liberian FIFA badge referee asserted that the reason given by the FA for Torjilor’s expulsion was insufficient.
It can be recalled that Josephus Torjilor was expelled from all LFA-sanctioned football activities after controversially ruling out a late goal by Grand Gedeh in their quarter-finals match against Nimba in the recently concluded County Meet. Gedeh eventually lost the match on penalties after a 2-2 draw, leading to angry officials and supporters carrying out destruction at the SKD Stadium in Paynesville.
Rogers, speaking over the weekend, said that to expel a referee, there should be proven grounds for such punishment, and it should be a decision for the committee to make. He also blamed referee manager Stanley Konah, Sr. for the deliberately poor and controversial decisions by referees during games in the National County Meet and LFA-sanctioned competitions. He accused Mr. Konah of sending referees to games with specific mandates, which usually lead to intentional controversial officiating.
The 2021 male best referee in the Liberia National League lamented that Konah’s search for personal aggrandizement exposes match officials to attacks and brings the referee fraternity into public disrepute. He made the disclosure while serving as a guest on OK Sports Desk during the weekend.
However, Prof. Konneh, speaking over the weekend on OK FM, said the LFA is concerned about the allegations made by the former FIFA-badged referee against Konah and the committee. The LFA disciplinary committee is investigating Rogers’ accusations following a complaint from Konah.