The Gambia Football Association has lodged an official complaint to the West Africa Football Union, copied the Confederation of African Football, over their 1-0 defeat to Ghana in the opening match of the 2017 WAFU Africa Cup of Nations on Saturday in Cape Coast.
With 5 minutes of time added on and the game heading for a penalty shootout after the Gambians held their Ghanaian counterparts for most the game, referee Boukari Mohammed adjudged a Gambian defender to have handled the ball in the box and awarded a penalty which was converted by the Hearts of Oak defender Vincent Atinga to give Ghana a narrow victory.
But the decision enraged the Gambian players who engulfed the referee in protest but to no avail. Gambia then threatened to boycott the competition in the future describing the penalty as a “non-existent” penalty.
On the Gambia Football Association’s official page in confirmation of the protest, banned referee Joseph Lamptey’s name was also roped in for “cheating” Gambia in an U-20 game against Cameroon.
Read full statement below:
“The Gambia Football Federation has fulfilled it’s promise by lodging an official protest with WAFU following our total dismay in the manner in which our WAFU Cup of Nations match against Ghana was decided.
In a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Competition’s Organising Committee and copied to the presidents of CAF, all WAFU member associations and the secretaries general of WAFU Zone A and B, the President Lamin Kabba Bajo urged both the regional and continental body to take necessary action and shouldn’t wait until another power house of African football to fall victim before redress is secured.
The GFF protest also made reference to two particular matches in which our National Teams were victimised by poor refereeing against Cameroon at the senior team and Guinea in the Under 20 categories. Against the former, the now infamous Lamptey was the culprit and went scot free until his actions caught up with him recently.”
