Treharris Athletic Western manager now turned referee Nana Baah calls for more people of diversity to get involved with refereeing

The former Ton Pentre AFC striker now turned manager has recently turned his attention to refereeing part time on Sunday’s after taking part in the South Wales Treforest based refereeing course and is loving every minute of it. 

The full time P.E. teacher at Cardiff West CHS high school said: “I’m going as far as giving up my one-to-one coaching on a Sunday to officiate, that should tell you first-hand just how much I am enjoying it.” 

Baah first had the idea of becoming a referee when on the side line he noticed some of the old referees from his playing career had lost that good relationship with the players and were giving ‘wrong decisions and talking to the players not right also.’ 

“I was asked by a colleague to referee a game and at first I was a bit apprehensive, however I ref’d the game and it was nothing like I expected, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

“Being a referee, you learn so much, you become a better person and get to know a variety of different people and I couldn’t encourage it more for younger people as there’s such an opportunity to go on to the bigger stage.”

Baah who moved from Ghana to the UK in 1992 strongly believes in order to tackle the problem that referees and the people wanting to go into refereeing face we need to create an environment where the referees are involved with the game and the footballing family as a whole.

“We had a referee who sat and had a pint with us after the game and that for me and the boys builds a level of respect and relationship with him.”

“I think it’s also a lot about communicating, nobody screams at a ref who is communicating with the players and manager explaining his decisions.”

However, in certain instances of physical or racial abuse Baah believes laws should be brought in to play and it should be a police matter, despite the ‘murky waters’ revolving around the subject.

Finally, the manager most known for leading Caerau Ely to the Welsh League division one title in 2015 hopes he can be a beacon for the younger generation and hopes to see an ‘influx of BAME kids who will take it forwards.’

With his popular and powerful figure, Baah is well placed to have a future in refereeing and to inspire any person from BAME backgrounds that they too can go just as far if not further in the sport.