Assistant Referee Patrick Papala has been given a one-year suspension by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) match review tribunal for depriving Accra Hearts of Oak a justifiable goal during their encounter against Real Tamale United on match-day 33 of the 2022–23 BetPawa Premier League.
The Match Review Panel has determined, after a careful analysis and debates, that the goal should have stood in opposition to the assistant referee’s ruling . The goal scorer was not in an offside position, the main referee Foster Bastiours failed to accept responsibility and instead let his assistant make decisions for him.
During investigations, the panel asked Assistant referee 1 Patrick Papala what they discussed during their consultation
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He confirmed that the Referee Foster Bastiours told him that he did not see the incident as offside but he, Patrick Papala insisted that it was an offside therefore, the referee complied and disallowed the goal.
As a result,costing the Phobians a key point and putting them in jeopardy going into their last Ghana Premier League match of the season.The outcome meant that Hearts of Oak could have been demoted with a loss on the last day, but the Phobians were fortunate to see their competitors at the moment, Tamale City, lose to Medeama on the last match game
Papala has been give a severe one-year ban from officiating games as a result.
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Yaw Amankwah Baafi was not in an offside position when he scored the goal, and as a result, it should have been properly awarded, according to the committee’s conclusions.
