The National Super League (NSL) referees have planned to boycott this weekend’s set of fixtures after the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Caretaker Committee failed to settle their dues.The referees claim they are yet to be paid by the Caretaker Committee despite their Premier League counterparts having their salaries up to date. Speaking to Mozzart Sport, one of the NSL referees who sought anonymity revealed that they are yet to be paid since the committee took over football governance in the country. The next round of #NSL action takes place on 8th and 9th January and here are the fixtures. pic.twitter.com/ygMhbH3TWl— FKFcaretaker (@FKFcaretaker) December 31, 2021 “The truth is that Premier League referees have been paid but we have never been paid by the Caretaker Committee, they promised to pay us on 21st December but up till now we have not received a dime,” the referee who sought anonymity opened up,He added; “Right now it is very easy for matches to be manipulated because referees have not been paid and most are suffering because we are either fathers or a husband but no referee wants to be caught up in that.”The referee noted that they have had to part with Ksh2,000 for fare during the festive period when transporters hiked their prices, this not excluding food expenses.Efforts from the Mozzart Sport desk to reach out to the caretaker committee for a response on the issue proved futile with no response at the time of writing. The match official went on to decry the plight of referees who at times face violence during matches and the underpayment across all tournaments. Here are the #NSL standings after this weekend’s fixtures pic.twitter.com/W8nmeAuUYd— FKFcaretaker (@FKFcaretaker) December 19, 2021 “Referees have planned to boycott this weekend’s matches because we feel that we are being taken in circles. I don’t even remember the last time we were paid our NSL dues, we have only received dues for the Women Premier League and FKF Cup which are not even up to date,””We feel that referees are under-appreciated like for example the grassroots tournaments, teams win close to a million or half a million but a referee will be given Ksh3,000 this really leaves us demotivated because our colleagues in Tanzania and Uganda are paid well.” concluded the referee. The NSL is set to resume this weekend after taking a break during the festivities.
