Under pressure coach Francis Haringingo has called referees to be fair when his Rayon Sports side face arch rivals APR Friday, December 17, at Kigali Stadium. The table leaders have a four-point advantage ahead of APR who will be looking to win the game to close the gap at the top of the table when the pair resumes the rivalry. The Blues are only focused on winning every game including the forthcoming derby to position themselves on the right path to winning their first league title in three years and Haringingo believes that only fair refereeing will decide their fate ahead of the derby. The Burundian criticized referees over unfair refereeing decisions that cost his club points during their shock defeat against Etincelles on Saturday, December 11 at Umuganda Stadium and called concerned officials in charge of referees to assign competent match officials ready to make fair decisions ahead of the APR clash. I have confidence in my team that they will do well against APR but referees need to be fair because we have seen referees doing badly when we played Etincelles. They need to be professional Haringingo said. Club president Jean Fidele Uwayezu said that a derby against APR has a lot it means for Rayon’s quest for the title and he called Ferwafa to always take fair refereeing into consideration to ensure football in the league. “We want the fans to come and support our team, most importantly, we would like to request referees who can fairly handle a game of the derby’s caliber. We hope they won’t be an excuse to anyone,” he said. Times Sport understands that Rayon filed a list of referees to local football governing body (Ferwafa) requesting the house to never assign them to officiate their matches. Asked what the request means for Rwanda’s refereeing system, Ferwafa president Oliver Mugabo Nizeyimana said that the federation takes note of such claims not only from Rayon Sports but any other team. “I won’t say that we will honor their [Rayon’s] request because we have a referees’ committee that works independently. We hope they look into the matter from a broader perspective but I can only assure that our office won’t tolerate bad refereeing. They can make mistakes in refereeing but we are always open to take measures when such incidents happen,” Nizeyimana said. Rayon Sports are on the top of the league with 28 points, one ahead of AS Kigali and four ahead of APR before they meet on Friday.
