Coach Akande Fatai Adejumo Smith of Lagos-based BYT Football Academy has scolded fellow tacticians in the round leather game who are fond of blaming referees for their teams’ poor results.
Speaking against the backdrop of his side’s 4-1 loss to Ojodu City FC in the third-tier Nationwide League One (NLO) Lagos zone 2 on Sunday, Coach Smith insisted that the focus of blame should be on one’s players, not the match officials.
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Smith, the national coordinator and head of protocol for Elite Football Coaches of African Nations (EFCAN) in Nigeria, added that it is unethical for any tactician to bribe referees to help a club win matches.
Smith stated at length: “It has to do with ethics of the game per se. In EFCAN, there is part of our focus that deals with that and the way you handle your players.
“Each player comes with various behaviours. Attitude happens to be the only thing that gives you 100% marks in life. Attitude is key.
“So, when you are on the sidelines, there are various ways you can intervene in coaching, especially when the game is going on.
It’s called coaching intervention … talking to your players in the game, and giving instructions in different ways.
“It’s very important that our coaches should take away attention from the centreman and the ARs for what they are doing.
We are all human, and we know referees are not perfect, but it’s not for coaches to go to the extreme in criticising match officials.”
The BYT FA technical director then used Sunday’s loss to Ojodu City to illustrate the type of response each coach is expected to give during any match situation.
“As far as I am concerned, referees’ decisions don’t decide my own game. We focus more on what the players give,” Coach Smith declared.
“Like in this match, we started well, with everybody contesting, but, at a key moment, the players switched off.
How would I then blame it on the referee? We got a moment to score, and we missed it. Will I blame the referee?
“It’s my players that I should go back to, instead of taking it to the referee for not giving me a throw-in, not giving me a corner kick, or referee not giving me a free kick.
“The very moment you leave the key points that will help you develop your player, you will start looking at the wrong faults.
“They are a good side, Ojodu City, they are a very good team. We could not beat them, but what I stress is you don’t need a referee to help you win a match. If you go to the referee, that means you are not doing your job.”
The outspoken tactician ended with a word of advice for coaches who think the best way to get victory in matches is by bribing referees; which he opined simply means misusing money meant for better welfare of players.
“If you want to do football business, you should focus more on your players. You can’t be beaten and don’t sell your players, but you can lose and still sell your players.
“So, instead of taking your money to referees, use it for your players,” Smith submitted.
