The Malta Football Referees Association issued a statement on Wednesday announcing that it was calling a strike as from Friday 5th April after the MFA, in the MFRA’s opinion, had snubbed the deadlines for the revision of fees to be paid to referees.
The Malta Football Association issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon stating that it had not been officially informed of the strike action ordered by the MFRA other than through the media release.
The MFA stressed that it strongly disagreed with the MFRA’s position considering the on-going discussions with a number of representatives of the referees over the revision of fees and the overall conditions of match officials.
Malta Football Referees Association statement (03/04/2019)
The MFRA had issued a deadline for the revision of the fees dated January 2019 and February 2019, both dates have been ignored and disregarded.
Subsequently, the MFRA has issued a hard deadline dated 1st of April; however, this deadline has been snubbed.
The MFRA Committee has consulted with many of its members, including several referees forming part of the elite group as well as several referees from lower divisions. Thus the MFRA decided to call a strike.
The Strike will commence on Friday 5 April from 4 pm onwards, where every affiliated referee with the MFRA is being instructed not to referee any “football appointments” issued by the MFA.
This directive will remain in force until the MFRA issues a counter directive revoking this strike.
Meanwhile, it seems that yesterday the MFA called a super urgent meeting with the appointed mediators who are representing the MFRA in these negotiations and there appears to be a form of verbal compromise. If this is put in writing the MFRA will revisit this directive.
Malta Football Association statement (03/04/2019)
The Malta Football Association refers to the statement issued earlier today by the Malta Football Referees Association (MFRA) calling for local referees to strike this weekend.
The Malta FA would like to emphasise that, at the time of writing this statement, the Association has not been officially informed of the strike action ordered by the MFRA other than through the media release issued by the same organisation.
The Malta FA strongly disagrees with the position taken by the MFRA, more so in light of the on-going discussions with a group of match officials over the revision of match fees and other matters related to the overall conditions of match officials at all levels.
These discussions have been very positive to the point that the parties have agreed in principle on all points following the latest in a series of cordial meetings, held on Tuesday evening.
Another meeting with these match officials is scheduled for tomorrow.
In such matters, the Malta FA structures and procedures must be respected at all times. Such agreement would be subject to the scrutiny and approval of the Executive Committee which is due to meet on Thursday, 11th April, 2019.
The Malta FA is taking this matter extremely seriously. While reminding all parties of their sporting and legal obligations, the Malta FA reserves the right to take action to safeguard not only the interests of the same Association and its clubs but also the integrity of the game.