Wits want ‘poor’ refs disciplined

The club hit out at rampant poor officiating in the PSL in a strong-worded statement where they demand that Safa take action against referee Lwandile Mfiki, who was in charge of the Clever Boys’ match against Kaizer Chiefs at FNB stadium on Saturday where Getaneh Kebede was punched by Morgan Gould. The Chiefs defender walked away from the incident with no booking.

“We have had an opportunity to review the video evidence as well as the match commissioner’s report, and we demand that disciplinary action be taken, not only against the Kaizer Chiefs player, Morgan Gould, for the brutal assault of our player, but equally important to us, against the match official, Mr Lwandile Mfiki,” Wits chief executive Jose Ferreira said in the statement.

“At Bidvest Wits, we have a reputation for not formally complaining about poor officiating, but we feel that we have kept quiet for far too long and that we need to take formal steps against the persistent and continuous poor refereeing decisions in the PSL.

“As a club we understand and respect that match officials have a very difficult task and the nature of the job is such that they will always make mistakes. But increasingly, the performances of our match officials in PSL matches have deteriorated to unprecedented levels.

“This situation is intolerable for us and accordingly, going forward, we will be formally demanding that action be taken against match officials, whenever we feel it is justified and as often as necessary, as opposed to keeping silent on these issues.”

Chiefs have since apologised to Kebede and Wits, promising to take action on Gould.