adminPaul Mundandi Sports Correspondent
NDUMISO Gumede, the Highlanders chief executive officer, has challenged Zifa to immediately appoint a referees’ committee, saying some of the skirmishes that rocked Barbourfields Stadium last Sunday were caused by inept refereeing.
Nkosikhona Moyo, who was in charge of the violence marred Highlanders and Chicken Inn encounter at Barbourfields Stadium, was only promoted last year and spent the entire season as a fourth official. He only started refereeing as a centre official this season.
“A rookie referee was appointed for the big game. He was overwhelmed when he saw a large number of fans in the stands. He has no experience and must go officiate at Burombo (flats in Makokoba suburb). I was referees’ committee chairman and I do not even know his name. It’s not that I am against young, up-and-coming referees; we need them, but we can’t assign rookies to handle big matches when there is Division One,” said Gumede.
He said poor decisions by the referee contributed to the violence.
“It (inept refereeing) was part of the problems that caused the violence because the officiating was poor, no wonder why Chicken Inn wrote a letter complaining. Two instances are treated differently, one player is seen as reckless when he goes for a tackle and the other one is seen as hard. The chaos in Zifa is causing all these problems. They are taking far too long to appoint proper committees. I will not be surprised if they get de-registered by Fifa because of this problem. The season is about to end and Zifa is still to appoint a referees committee,” he said.
Bongani Ndlovu