adminA total of 52 referees from across the country attended the test with Thomas Kusosa and female referee Saneliso Sibanda joining the Fifa panellists duo on the failures’ list.
Zifa referees’ fitness trainer and retired referee, Joseph Mususa, said the test was to gauge the fitness levels of the referees ahead of the 2013 Premier Soccer League season.
“In terms of the pass rate I am happy that 48 out of the 52 that attended passed the test but I am so sad that two of the four referees who failed are on the Fifa list. I was expecting them to lead by example but alas, they failed,” said Mususa.
He said those who failed will be given another chance to run before the season kicks off and in the event of them failing for the second time, they might be removed from the Zifa list for the season.
“They will be given another chance on 17 March just before the season kicks off,” said Mususa.
It was a surprise when Nyika made it into the Fifa 2013 list after it was revealed that he had earlier failed another fitness test but his name was pushed through because of his close links with some officials in the divided Zimbabwe Referees Committee’s Bulawayo Chapter.
In the run-up to the Fifa referees appointment, Nyika failed a fitness test on 13 August 2012 on the 11th lap after he failed to complete the 12th and was made to run again on 17 August of that week, a mere one week later which he eventually passed and with it got his ticket to the elite referees’ list.
Fifa statutes require a re-run to be undertaken between six and eight weeks after the first trial.
Referees in Bulawayo belong to factions with those in the more powerful faction getting games. A number of referees have been left in a limbo after being named in the Centralgate scandal in 2011 and up to this date Zifa are yet to conclude it.
So grave is the situation in Bulawayo that some referees are considering affiliating under Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South because of the factions.
Online Reporter