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Ray Bande and Fungayi Munyoro
FORMER ZIFA vice president and FIFA panel referee Kenny Marange has made a sensational return to the game and is now involved in the training of budding match officials in Manicaland. Marange rose to fame as he handled high-profile matches not only on the domestic scene, but internationally, where he became one of the few referees in the country to officiate in big matches before his retirement.
His efforts to make a quick return to mainstream football officiating upon being cleared of playing a part in the Asiagate scam were frustrated at every turn by the old ZIFA leadership.
But things have changed now.
Marange, who is now the Manicaland referees instructor together with Pearson Kahiya for Mashonaland East and John Madziva for Masvingo, has been conducting training sessions in Manicaland, which will culminate into the Eastern Region Junior Referees Exams set for September 2 at Chancellor Primary School in Mutare.
The ZIFA Eastern Region, which comprises Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland East, has three instructors.
Zifa Referees Committee Eastern Region Technical Instructor Phibeon Ngorima said the Eastern Region Junior Referees Exams set for September 2 at Chancellor Primary School in Mutare are a culmination of training sessions in the provinces.
Ngorima said they are targeting schools, colleges and universities to be able to produce future top order referees.
“This is a national thing where all the regions are having these trainings. We want to produce vibrant junior referees, who will rise through the ranks to the ZIFA panel and eventually to the FIFA panel to officiate international games.
“We want to catch them young. The younger they are, the longer they will stay in the elite panel.
“We are targeting schools, colleges and universities in the whole region for the next intake. We have seen that we have a shortage of referees in our country, especially in division two, hence the need to train more referees,” he said.
Ngorima said the date for the exam is September 2. He also said the minimum age of the candidate is 18 years.
The training started in June and the candidates were having some tutorials.
So far a total of 27 candidates have been trained in Masvingo and Mashonaland East has registered 13 candidates.
Manicaland has 42 candidates with Prince Percy Chavhanga (18), a student at Sakubva High being the youngest.
Ngorima said the exam fee is $60, being $50 for tuition and $10 for exam.
ZIFA Referees Committee vice-chairman Gladmore Mzambi said they are working hard for all the regions to have junior referees.
“We have started this programme in all the regions.
“ All we want to achieve is to have as many referees as we can.
“We do not want a situation whereby we have a shortage of referees when the older ones retire.
“We are encouraging all the regions to recruit as many as they can. We want ladies as well, since we have few ladies refereeing in our country,’’ he said.
Online Reporter