Back to Referee Andoh’s death and the autopsy

The Late Referee Kyei Andoh

I was one of the happiest people when it was announced that an autopsy was to take place to establish what actually ended the young life of Assistant Referee Kyei Andoh, who, days before his death had been beaten mercilessly by irate fans at the Bordie Park following a lower division match between Gold Stars and Naajoe United.

Autopsies don’t restore lives. They don’t bring the dead back to life yet when done correctly, they usually help relatives of the dead to have a good idea of what might have killed their loved one. By implication, the autopsy of Referee Andoh was to help his family and the whole world know if the callous beating he suffered days before he died was really what killed him.

The report came out last week. The news was that, the 21-year-old referee’s death couldn’t be linked to the beastly act of the incensed football fans. I was shocked not by that revelation but rather by what followed. That a member of the Referees Association of Ghana, Francis Tachie-Menson rubbished the autopsy report, saying that the GFA had a hand in the report.

How can anybody make such an allegation and no proof is asked of him? You neither have to be a friend nor a relative of the late referee to sympathize with his family. You only have to be human. You have to be sensitive to understand the family’s loss, pain and disappointment. I cannot make any useful commentary on the autopsy report except to urge the GFA to let the world know what it makes of the allegations leveled against it by Referee Tachie-Mensson.

I don’t know which one came first but aside Referee Tachie-Menson’s position, the family of the late Referee Andoh has also cast doubts over the credibility of the autopsy report. And we think this is also not serious enough to warrant a response? The GFA shouldn’t be quite. The issue no doubt has already soiled the image of our local game.

I won’t hold brief for the family of the late referee but I maintain that they ought not to be pathologists before they can ask questions about the report. Therefore those questioning their apparent lack of confidence in the report shouldn’t just condemn them. The family deserved to be heard at least. Their sentiments must be examined to see whether it has any value.

The assault, not the death of the referee was shameful. It shouldn’t have been allowed to happen. But why wouldn’t it happen when we have a football society that has brazenly failed to deal drastically with hooligans? I saw photos of the Bordie Park which has been banned and I laughed because that park looks like an abandoned school park, with no inner-perimeter.

Of what effect is the ban on the team that plays there? I have been wondering why we will even allow FA-sanctioned matches to take place on that Park with virtually no security. But again, why won’t we allow it? Our football has a misfortune. Some FA sanctioned games, even Premier League matches are played at centres where the lives of players, coaches, referees and spectators usually come under threat and somehow we all see it as normal.

I won’t necessarily blame the FA for the ill-fate Referee Andoh suffered but it is obvious the GFA along with the Police haven’t dealt with football hooliganism well enough. The Police must let hooligans know that Ghana is not a lawless state. The country has laws and those laws must be allowed to work. Those laws must drastically deal with hooligans where necessary.

Was any arrest made at the Bordie Park for example? Has any hooligan be arrested and prosecuted in recent times? Regardless of where football hooligans rear their ugly faces, they should be arrested, prosecuted and jailed if found guilty. Until that is done, I insist that, we will not make any headway in combating the menace of football hooliganism.

In addition to dealing drastically with hooligans, the time has come for the Regional Football Associations (RFAs) to also take a critical look at the sort of venues they approve for matches. Unless we want to continue endangering lives, venues where the safety and security of lives cannot be guaranteed should not be endorsed.

Again, unless we want to ruin lives, venues where the Police may not be able to effectively manage crowd violence shouldn’t be approved. If we care that much about lives and if we are that serious about the game, it should not be hard for us to deal with lawless football fans.