By Walter Wilson Nana
Retired International Referee, Andrew Abimni Akombong, has been awarded a third grade medal for sports by the government of Cameroon.
Abimni was amongst some fifty Cameroonians, who received various state honours in Buea, on May 20 2012 during commemorative activities to mark forty years of Cameroon’s unitary state.
Retired International Referee, Andrew Abimni Akombong
According to Abimni, it was just timely to quit the referee corps after putting in twenty-six years and when the applause was loudest. “I thank President Paul Biya for recognising the modest contribution I have made in the sporting landscape of Cameroon and across the African continent through the referee corps. I have put in 26 years of my life referring football matches across Cameroon and 8 of them as Confederation of African Football, CAF, Referee,” he said.
Abimni recalled with joy the moment he was pronounced an international referee and some of the exciting stopovers in the course of playing matches. “It is the wish of every referee to get to the pick of the profession. My first international game was in Luanda, Angola, a CAF Champions League quarter-finals match, at the 80,000-sitter Citadella Stadium, pitting Aviasio of Luanda, Angola against Ghana’s Hearts of Oak from Accra. The hotly contested match ended on a one all tie. It is one of those international experiences I will not forget,” he said.
Abimni, who is a staff of the Southwest Regional Office of Cameroon Telecommunication, CAMTEL, Buea praised the Cameroonian referee corps for making strides across the country, the African continent and beyond. “We’re doing well and setting the pace for others to follow. We’ve consistently had Cameroonian referees take at the African Cup of Nations, the Olympic Games and the World Cup tournaments. There is already a Cameroonian trio selected to be part of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In two months they will be party to a capacity building seminar in Switzerland,” he added.
He mentioned that he is at the helm of the referee commission in the Southwest Bureau of the country’s football governing body, FECAFOOT. “We are making efforts to drill the young referees and to ensure that they successfully move on to the next stages of the corps. It will be our joy to have more international referees from this part of the country. So far, we are scandals-free, which is an indicator that we are doing a good job,” he noted.
He enjoined more Cameroonians to get interested in the referee corps, saying it is a game and an exciting activity to be part of. “It is a good avenue for networking, exposure to the world, people and tourism. Let them be courageous and join the train.”
In the sidelines of his activities at CAMTEL Buea, Abimni is also into credit unionism. He is the board chair of the Buea P&T Cooperative Credit Union Limited.
