By Constantinos Psillides
THE Cyprus Football Association (CFA) is considering dismantling the Cyprus Referee Association (CRA) following weeks of revelations of corruption at all levels of the sport.
A source within the CFA told the Cyprus Mail on Friday that association chairman Kostakis Koutsokoumnis will be meeting with CRA representatives on Monday, to discuss the issue.
“Dismantling the CRA has definitely been discussed at a CFA meeting and the chairman favours it,” said the source.
The CRA has received bad press over the last three weeks, following allegations by international referee Marios Panayi of extensive match-fixing. The head and a former member of the CRA (Marios Argyrou and Michalis Spyrou) were arrested and questioned regarding the case, while phone conversations of CRA members ordering referees to fix matches in exchange for promotion were leaked to the media.
The CFA itself also had its share of bad publicity, after Panayi accused deputy chairman Yiorgos Koumas of being the man behind the match-fixing scandal.
The CFA boss is said to favour dismantling the CRA as a means to placate public opinion. Koutsokoumnis has refused repeated calls to resign following Panayi’s accusations.
Koutsokoumnis did not return calls seeking comment.
The investigation on match-fixing is ongoing.
The CRA once again made headlines last week, this time for an additional reason, after a bomb exploded outside the home of the mother of football referee Thomas Mouskos.
Nobody was injured but the incident prompted referees to abstain from presiding over last Wednesday’s Cup matches and this weekend’s Championship matches in protest.
Meanwhile, the CFA issued a statement on Thursday decreeing that fines imposed on teams and team officials should be payable within a week and not a month, as it was originally set in the stature. Despite claiming that the decision was unanimous, daily Phileleftheros reported that not only did several members raise objections but that they were also under the impression that a decision was not yet reached.
The CFA has yet to comment on these reports.
