Rhetoric: Who flags the referees when they are offside?

The tough question, it seems, is why are they not cracking the whip on these referees who have been dropping the ball and committing match-deciding errors that have intensified the call for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

To begin to think about VAR at this point is really getting our hopes high for nothing, because we still don’t have the vanishing spray (unless you are Victor Gomes) and there is no goal-line technology. Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane highlighted the inconsistencies of the match officials, saying when Sundowns played AmaZulu in the Telkom Knockout and ate them 5-0, the man in the middle did not have the communicating ear-piece device, but had it when Downs played Kaizer Chiefs and lost 2-0.

Whether that is a fact or Mosimane is just running off his mouth as he often does, is something that I cannot answer right now. But how many times have we seen the referee running to the touchline to communicate with his assistants or the fourth official?  This begs the question whether the referees are not technology savvy, or the ear-piece is too soft to hear? Or, is it only reserved for category A matches, as Mosimane suggested?

Back to the question…

Why are Safa quiet about the poor officiating? Yes, they did suspend Mervy van Wyk, but what else have they done expect to respond to Samir Nurkovic’s first goal against Sundowns, saying it was not an offside goal. But why were they quiet about all those goals that were indeed incorrectly ruled out or awarded instead of being flagged? More needs to be done.

Why are Safa quiet? The coaches can bemoan it and cuss about it all they want, supporters can throw missiles and the media can document it as much as they like, but if the powers that be just fold their arms, nothing will change and the state of officiating in the country will continue to deteriorate.

Come on, Safa, fix this!

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