Thumbs up for referees

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
DESPITE  receiving a battering for some of their performances, local referees have received a major show of confidence with respected Fifa instructor Felix Tangawarima insisting they are a quality lot that has only been let down by lack of support.
Tangawarima instead challenged the Premier Soccer League and the regional Division One Leagues to find resources that would be channelled to Zifa particularly for referees’ development.

The Seven-time referee of the year — widely acknowledged as the best Zimbabwean referee of all time — yesterday threw his weight behind the current crop of match officials despite their failure to also secure appointments for such big tournaments like the World Cup, the African Cup of Nations and the African Nations Championship.

For the third successive CHAN tournament, there will be no Zimbabwean referee on duty when the competition that is reserved for players playing in their domestic leagues only gets underway in Cape Town on January 11.

It has been a similar tale with the recent Nations Cup and African Youth Championships editions.
There was also criticism on the referees from a number of Premiership club officials and coaches in the 2013 season.

But Tangawarima revered and respected in the football circles at home and abroad yesterday begged to differ with  the notion that Zimbabwe now had poor match officials and instead argued that they were only being pegged back by “a very difficult operating environment’’.

Tangawarima said regular tests carried on referees on a monthly basis had also shown that Zimbabwean referees were top on the continent but reckoned that their on-field application was being hampered by lack of resources which restricted the number of refresher courses and development programmes they go through.

With cash-strapped Zifa unable to offer much in assistance, the referees have resorted to using their personal resources to develop themselves.

Tangawarima singled out Castle Premiership Referee of the Year Nomore Musundire, assistant referee Tapfumanei Mtengwa and youthful Bulawayo official Salani Ncube as some of the top local referees that had shown great potential.

Musundire and Mtengwa were also the only Zimbabwean referees at the Cosafa Castle Cup tournament in Zambia in July with the former also reportedly having done well at the Cosafa Under-20 tournament in Lesotho this month.

Tangawarima who has since becoming a full-time Fifa instructor and spends much of his time travelling across Africa, Europe and Asia developing referees noted with concern the fact that the domestic Premiership was not involved in building the capacities of the match officials who contribute to the quality of their league.

“It is the third CHAN where we do not have Zimbabwean referees but I still think that very soon we will have them on the Caf tournaments because at the Cosafa tournament in Zambia we had two of them and they did well and that is where we identified Mtengwa for the Caf Elite B course which is a feeder to the Caf Elite A.

“The problem which I think affected Zimbabwe is that during our time everybody was happy that we were there but when we retired there was a very big gap in between and I think the referees committee here are doing a good job to try and develop referees and close the gap.

“It is a process and if only they could be given resources so that they can train more referees and hold more courses. In other countries the Premier Leagues pay the associations a development fee for the referees and I think the PSL here should do the same because when referees do well they will benefit more.

“They want a good final product and that final product cannot be of good quality if you do not have good referees. Even though it is their responsibility Zifa alone cannot manage to develop a referee because it is expensive and at the moment the referees are using their own resources’’.

Tangawarima also paid tribute to the crew of local referees’ instructors who include Tendai Bwanya, Gladmore Muzambi, Wilfred Mukuna, Brighton Mudzamiri, Sabelo Sibindi-Maphosa, Joseph Mususa and Edson Nkau for “doing their best to develop referees and the game’’.

“We have some of the best resource persons in the region who are also Fifa trained but they are without resources and I think the PSL should negotiate a package for referees when they negotiate sponsorships for the league.

Fifa allows companies to sponsor referees and put their logos on the sleeves of the referees’ shirts and with local games now on SuperSport that could be an advertising platform for the companies.

“Everybody wants the best from the referees but nobody is willing to develop them. Imagine what would have become of them if Fifa and Caf did not hold courses’’.

Tangawarima cited the South African Premiership as an example of a league that has invested much into the development referees and revealed that he would be leaving for Johannesburg on Thursday to conduct a refresher course for their top-flight and National First Division match officials.

“South Africa have invited us to develop their referees outside of the Fifa for Caf programs and I will be leaving on 2 January for an intensive course involving 70 referees.

“We have also changed the way we teach these referees with more emphasis now being put on practical on the field of play and practicals in class. We realise that at a higher level senior referees have no problems with theory so 95 percent of our courses have now turned practical.

“Safa and the PSL decided to use the break in fixtures to hold a refresher course which will conduct up to 6 January then I leave for Cape Town on 7 January for the CHAN tournament,’’ Tangawarima said.