Safa suspends assistant referee accused of being a Chiefs fan

The South African Football Association (Safa) has confirmed that an assistant referee Mervyn Van Wyk has been suspended after his questionable calls in a game against AmaZulu and Kaizer Chiefs.


Safa chairperson of referees Ari Soldatos told SAFM that Van Wyk is back in his region until the review committee comes with sanctions against him.

“The assistant ref in the Chiefs vs AmaZulu game is one of our finest. I know what happened, he thought the ball would be played by another player. He should have applied the wait and see rule. He will be the first one to admit that he was wrong,” said Soldatos.

Soldatos added that they have had a chance to look at the decisions taken by Van Wyk during the game and they agreed that he erred in not allowing the goal to stand.

“That was definitely not an offside and even before the review sat next Tuesday, that ref was removed from all the games he was going to officiate. He is back in his region until the review committee comes with sanctions.”

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.

For more news your way

Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.