By Neto Baptiste
The standard of refereeing in the ongoing Premier Division football competition has come in for harsh criticism by the country’s technical director, Rolston Williams.
In a recent interview, Williams labelled the standard of officiating in the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) hosted competition “very poor”.
“I think that the standard of referees must improve; the standard of refereeing has been very poor and needs to improve in terms of the decision making. The ABFA has a chairman of referees and all of the time I let him know my opinion [on the officiating],” he said.
Williams, who has had his share of confrontations with officials in the country’s domestic leagues, said he is however pleased with the standard of play in the top flight.
“I think we have been playing some good football for the season thus far. I think we have seen some real competitive matches but you are not going to have all good games. I think all in all, we have seen some very good football,” he said.
The TD also revealed his personal feelings where it regards to a cap being placed on the importation of players during the domestic competition.
“I am satisfied with the teams bringing any amount of players that they want to bring but, like I said before, we have to look at a reasonable [cap] in terms of how we are going to look at our younger players. Some people say three and some people say five, but I will say four players [imported] on the pitch at a time,” Williams said.
The Premier Division is at its halfway mark with Greenbay Hoppers and Grenades leading on 19 points each.