adminTHE recent suspension of assistant referee Bongani Gadzikwa by the Zimbabwe Referees Committee has hogged the limelight in the media.
Gadzikwa officiated in the match involving Dynamos and Highlanders last Sunday at Rufaro Stadium and his glaring “sin” was flagging Bosso’s Edmore Muzanenhamo for offside when he had scored what could have been a crucial goal for the visitors.
The referees committee duly suspended Gadzikwa the following morning (Monday).
While the norm had been for the ZRC to quietly take action without making it public, the ZRC vice-chairman Wilfred Mukuna said they had shifted from the policy of “quiet diplomacy” adding that they will name and shame the suspended officials.
The question in the game stakeholder’s minds remains: Will the new policy bring an improvement in the performance of match officials?
Mukuna said the match did not have to come out on television for them to note misdemeanours as they had officials on the ground that included match commissioners who monitor the games.
“For some time now the football fraternity has not known much about action taken against perceived poor officiating hence the general belief that nothing is being done to these officials who are found to have been involved in poor execution of duty. It goes without saying that action has always been taken and will be taken even with no complaints from clubs,” he said.
“We are sneaking into matches and sitting in the crowds so that we assess the performance of the match officials and commissioners without their knowledge. This is not something meant for games that are being televised only, we have the match commissioners’ reports but there are also other officials who attend the games nicodemously and come up with their own reports.
“The only thing that we have not been doing is going public about the announcements but we informed the match officials when we met them on 20 June that we are now going to be releasing the names of the suspended to the public,” said Mukuna, adding they hoped the new procedure will lead to referees being more professional in their work.
“Publicising action taken will indeed make each official realise the importance of his/her duty to perform according to acceptable standards. I believe these referees have an image to protect hence no one would want to hog the limelight for the wrong reasons while putting family and friends in a difficult position because of poor officiating or want to be associated with wrong doers.
“The quiet diplomacy seems not to have produced the required result of taking officials out of their comfort zones and the public have a right to know, which we feel will assist them reconcile their feelings.”
Former ZRC chairman, Ndumiso Gumede said they had made it a policy to effect suspensions without coming out in the open.
He said referees have been “frozen” time and again and it was nothing new to him.
“We deliberately made the policy to keep it among ourselves when an official has been suspended and there are several match officials that used to find themselves on the sidelines when I was at the helm of ZRC because of poor performances,” said Gumede.
Gumede was sceptical about the naming and shaming, whether the initiative would encourage referees to be at their best during games, while urging the match officials to embrace professionalism.
“Decisions made by referees affect people in a lot of ways hence it is critical they should be on point all the time but of course some mistakes are genuine but if that error is made on a situation that could impact on the outcome of the match then the official involved is punished. The decision has to involve a goal-scoring circumstance otherwise if the error is on an incident in the centre circle the official might be pardoned.
“Admittedly people get angry with some of these decisions particularly if they are inaccurate,” said Gumede, adding that the calling for one to be a referee meant that they should be impartial, objective and professional, while refusing to be swayed by other influences.
Gumede said any undue influences could give rise to such match-fixing scandals as Central-gate and Asiagate. However, he felt most referees made genuine mistakes, adding though some blunders were unforgivable.
Mukuna said the generality of the referees were competent although there were a few who are causing an outcry from football stakeholders.
“I wouldn’t say our referees are incompetent, actually we have a good number of able match officials.
“They go through four courses a year and this is the recommended minimum but bear in mind the financial constraints we are facing; resources permitting we would host more days per course,” said former Fifa panel referee who was also once hit with a six-week suspension for poor officiating in a 1998 clash involving DeMbare and Bosso at Rufaro.
The suspension of Gadzikwa, however, divided the football family with some claiming the official was “frozen” because he had ruled against Highlanders.
Dynamos chairman, Kenny Mubaiwa joined the bandwagon saying other referees had not been suspended despite poor officiating but Mukuna replied by releasing the names of those who have been put on ice and it included the whole set of officials who handled the Dynamos-Tsholotsho tie that ended in a goalless draw with Dynamos striker, Patrick Kumbula having been declared to be offside when he scored what could have been the match winner for the defending champions.
Suspended referees to date:
Chapungu v Flame Lily
Assistant referee: Faith Mloyi
FC Platinum v Highlanders
Assistant referee: Edgar Rumeck
Dynamos v Tsholotsho
Referee: Thomas Massa
First assistant: Allan Barewa
Second assistant: Nyarai Chirwa
Fourth official: Munyaradzi Majoni
Match commissioner: Tazvicha Chipere
Dynamos v Highlanders
Assistant referee: Bongani Gadzikwa
derick.khumalo
Online Reporter