Two days after Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey was given a lifetime ban by FIFA, Senegalese football authorities are said to be considering calling for a rematch of their match against South Africa which was handled by referee Lamptey.
In the said match which was a 2018 World Cup qualifier played in November 2018, the referee awarded a penalty to South Africa when replays showed that there was no infringement in the penalty area.
The call led to investigations by FIFA and the organization handed out the ban to Lamptey based on their judgment that the referee manipulated the result.
The decision was premised on Article 69 of FIFA’s rules. Senegalese reporter Aliou Goloko of Allafrica.com believes that FIFA’s decision to ban Lamptey should logically lead to a replay since the result was compromised.
“If we have an opportunity to push for the rematch, why not? I do not know if such a thing has happened before.
FIFA has already stated in its release on the matter that more details will emerge. We need to wait and see what happens next in terms of a replay.
What we all do agree with is the fact that Senegal lost the match because of referee Lamptey.”
Hot-headed FIFA?
Former Ghana Premier League referee Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoe and head of the Referees Appointments Committee of the Professional League Board (PLB) have described the ban by FIFA as “harsh” and ” an overkill” because they both believe that Lamptey made a genuine error in awarding a penalty to South Africa.
Previous history Lamptey’s incident in South Africa was not the first in terms of errors.
In 2011, he awarded a goal to Esperance in a CAF Champions League match against Al Ahly of Egypt. Esperance forward Michael Eneramo scored a goal with his arm under a minute and it was allowed to stand.
Lamptey was subsequently banned for 6 months by the Confederation of African Football.
In the 2017 AFCON qualifiers, Lamptey was in charge of match between Anglola and DR Congo.
In the 99th minute of the match, he gave a penalty to Angola for a clash of bodies in the Congolese penalty area.
In Ghana, Lamptey’s list of mistakes include one in the 2015 MTN FA Cup final between Kotoko and Medeama where he disallowed a goal scored by Kotoko to stand for a foul on Medeama goalie Muntari Tagoe.
Medeama players were not even too certain why the whistle was blown.
In 2005, referee Lamptey’s performance in a GHALCA Top Four tournament match between Heart of Lions and Asante Kotoko was up for discussion because of the inconsistency in his decisions.
He failed to give Heart of Lions a clear penalty at a point in the second half but he chose to point to the spot in the 86th minute and that upset the Kotoko fans who threw objects onto the pitch.
Management of Kotoko namely the late Jerry Asare ordered the players to walk off the pitch in protest in what became known as the “Yen Bo Biom” ( or We will no longer play) episode.
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