Ageing referees urged to retire

By Swalley Kenyi

UGANDAN FIFA referees’ instructor Haruna Kebba has urged referees to emulate retired referees like Ali Tomusange, Fred Mufta and Mohammed Segonga among others and bow out to offer advice to the upcoming ones.

Kebba was speaking after a fitness test for FUFA Super League, Big and lower division leagues at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole on Saturday.

He was full of praise for the young crop of officials, who excelled at the test but urged their ageing counterparts to quit.

“I know, no one (FIFA referee) can give up voluntarily but it affects our standards to keep urging those who fail the tests several times to get back. Even FIFA is advocating for young referees,” he added in reference to recent failures among senior FIFA referees.

FIFA referees currently have to retire at the age of 45.

Up to 137 centre and assistant referees handling FUFA Super League, Big and lower division games took the tests meant to pick officials to handle the competitions in the 2013/2014 season and only 10 officials failed to succeed.

“It was very good result from the test. I attribute it to the young crop of referees emerging. It is the way to go. Let’s have more young referees take up from the ageing lot to revive our lowering stands nationally and internationally,” Kebba said.

Among senior referees who took the test was Kalifan Kanakulya but dropped in the seventh lap while Ali Kalyango, who requested to use the occasion to gauge himself ahead of the FIFA test next month, also failed to make it to the end.  

It was assistant FIFA referee Sam Kayondo, who turned up for the same reasons as Kanakulya, who matched the young crop.

Uganda has Dennis Batte as the only senior FIFA centre referee at the moment after Ronnie Kalema, Brian Nsubuga and Kalyango missed out on the recent list.