During a press conference before the Metro League Kicked off on the 19th of February 2014, the chairmen of the clubs participating in the ten team league looked happy as they shared their views on what Metro League stands for. The club chairmen who are directors on the Metro League board chose
a chief operating officer, Victor Akinyooye, to run the league. Below is a quote from Bridge FC chairman.
" The reason why we embarked on this idea of Metro Pro League is to run a football league in a professional way,"Godwin Uti
According to a release by the Metro League, 40 referees were selected to officiate in the 2013/2014 season with high expectation of quality officiating.
So far officiating was top notch after the first set of matches which is very encouraging but a major set back in officiating where referees are approached by participating teams to influence a match might just be a regular feature in a private league that is expected to show the world that Nigerians can run a profitable football league.
In the Nigeria National League (a second tier league in Nigeria), very bad officiating has made mockery of a league that has 32 teams featuring in it. Home teams are expected to pick the maximum points, the visiting team already harbor a mindset of losing an away match even before kick off. An easy question that comes up is WHY?
For example, in the NNL last season home teams are responsible for match officials indemnity which tantamount to the home team must win. How will a home team pick up the bill of match officials and still lose a game? Will a true champion emerge from such a league?
A couple of clubs featuring in the Metro Pro League have before now played in the NNL and at one point or the other pulled out of the league due to some obvious reasons ie. bad officiating, not profitable etc.
Footyalert can confirm at the time of writing this piece that referees are yet to be paid days after they've done their job in week one.With the league set to enter its second week these refs will still officiate exposing them to that temptation to listen to offers when desperate teams approach them. According to a chat with an official who pleaded anonymity, "the refs are yet to be paid," he said.
"I'm so astonished to see Metro Pro League start like this, we know how important officiating is to the game and the quality the league will enjoy if the officiating in the league is top notch," the official said.
The Metro Pro League that kicked off just six days ago is set to enter its week two and they are acting as though the referees should consider other option by not paying them and that will only put officiating in the private league below expectation.
2 Comments " Metro Pro League Yet To Pay Refs "
Well, I played amateur league abroad, we pay Referees immediately after each game. The home team always pay the Referee and both teams share the cost of Cup games but the best team on the day wins. It is ridiculous to expect to win just because you are playing at your home venue and pay the Referee.
I have been following the progress of the Metro Pro League and find it appalling that its only week two and Referees are not paid yet. They should be paid immediately after each game.
Am a player and my team is playing in d metro league, its a bad news to hear they've nt bin paid cos d officiating so far has bin a world class 1. Pls let d board do sometin very urgent in dat situation..
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