Central Region Football Association (CRFA) has appealed to Central Region Referees Association to improve their officiating standards in the coming football season.
CFRA Chairperson, Austin Ajawa made the appeals Saturday during CFRA Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Bridge View Hotel in Lilongwe.
He said officiation forms part of the game and improving it helps the game to grow for the better.
Ajawa said the 2022 season most away teams complained of poor officiating saying this was contributed to low standards of officiating or inadequate knowledge on the laws of the game among some officiating personnel.
“We want to appeal to the referees committee to make sure that the standards of refereeing in the region improve for the better. If there is need to provide additional training, we need to coordinate and facility that so that we are in the same page,” the Chairperson stated.
He disclosed that Chipuku and Division one leagues would kick off on April 16, 2023.
Ajawa said CFRA wants to run the league in conformity of football Association of Malawi (FAM) annual football calendar saying they have asked the mother body to consider shifting the dates of FAM cup so that teams should compete while their finances are ok.
He assured teams of stable sponsorship totaling K 90.4 million from Chipiku, Unayo , Nyasa, affiliation fees and FAM annual subventions.
“Apart from that we have K 27 million to be use for FAM Cup. We need to join hands I order to make this league vibrant,” Chair noted.
He said the committee would look into the issue of play offs and fixing mid week games.
General Secretary for Central Region Referees Association, Innocent Kaundula admitted that the officiation was compromised in the just ended football season.
He attributed to poor standards of officiating o some clubs threatening the officiating teams while others were promising to offer monetary rewards.
Kaundula said all this would be addressed if both the referees and clubs know their rightfully roles in the game of football.
CFRA General Secretary, Chiwiriwiri Harawa said 2022 football season was better than the previous years.
He said this was due to proper coordination the district committees and clubs had demonstrated.
“We need to promote love in the coming season although we had encountered some problems in the last years. Let us all make the new football season better,” Harawa hinted.
