‘VAR’ pressure mounts
MBABANE – The call for video assistant referee, known as VAR in domestic terrain is mounting, with competitions reaching a critical stage.
Eight-time league winners Royal Leopard Coach Edwin ‘Pot O Gold’ Matsebula has raised concerns about the need for this technology for some of the matches.
Matsebula raised these while speaking in a post-match interview on Saturday after the 1-1 stalemate with Mbabane Highlanders. He said there was some action that could be reviewed which took place before Highlanders equalised, which did not get the attention of the referee Letticia Viana.
“I still believe there was a foul before the goal. Perhaps one day we will get VAR to assist us. I was not impressed by the way they equalised because their player kicked Kelvin (Kunene), while he was lying down,” Matsebula said.
After the equaliser, Viana stopped the play and let in the police side’s medical team to nurse the defensive midfielder who was floored at the centre line.
Disgruntlement
Besides this incident that Matsebula mentioned, there was fans’ disgruntlement with the refereeing decision on the day, such that the match officials were escorted to dressing rooms.
Police officers had to guard them from dissatisfied fans who were mainly on the right grandstand where Highlanders had sat.
Furthermore, around the hour mark, Highlanders’ marshal and supporters were involved in a confrontation after one fan threw a container towards the pitch, but fell on the synthetic track. In a tense game, three players got booked in the first 30 minutes of the play. These were Leopard captain Muzi ‘Mzoro’ Dlamini and ‘Bull’ duo of Njabulo ‘Koko’ Gama and Thami Zulu.
The Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Referees Committee last month said Eswatini might be soon getting VAR Lite to reinforce match officiating. On the other hand, EFA is set to introduce some match officiating technology at the beginning of next season as per their 2023 to 2026 strategic plan. However, it remains unclear if this technology will be the VAR Lite.
Both the MTN Premier League and the Ingwenyama Cup sponsored by the Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accidents Fund (SMVAF) are in critical stages, with the latter is in the semi-final stage.