Custodians of football are sitting back watching the PSL turn into a circus

HOW long do we have to tolerate the ordinary men with whistles masquerading as referees in the PSL?

In probably the most apt description of match officials by a coach yet, Roger de Sa – in a state of disbelief some years ago following yet another howler – labelled them as such, refusing to acknowledge the men in the middle by the title given to their trade.

I am devastated to report that not much has changed since De Sa made those comments a few seasons ago.

In fact the standard of refereeing in South Africa has only gotten worse.

Referees continue to dominate the headlines of the local game and they were at it again this past weekend, beginning with Friday’s league clash between Cape Town City and Polokwane City in the Mother City. On that night the opposing coaches, Benni McCarthy and Bernard Molekwa, nearly came to blows, not because they hate each other, but because the decisions taken by the man in the middle on the night were so bewildering that both dugouts thought there was a conspiracy manufactured by an external force.

Can you believe that McCarthy, in that moment of madness, blamed his colleague Molekwa? And vice versa? You can’t make this up. My head is still spinning from just trying to recap what referee Cedrick Muvhali was thinking when he first denied a legitimate goal, then allowed it, before he again changed his mind and restarted the game via a drop ball.

It is irrelevant now to get into the details of what was a night to forget for a young referee, whose name wouldn’t have been trending if it wasn’t for his dubious mistakes. What needs an explanation, however, is why are we are still being subjected to these eeny, meeny, miny, moe-type bloopers where Muvhali and his linesmen seem to employ an elimination process rather than knowledge of the rules.

What I have observed is that he is a new face in this game and he is no improvement on those before him. In other words, the current crop of referees in the PSL are scapegoats to an extent. “Dr Evil” is sitting somewhere in an air-conditioned office, pulling the strings, cutting budgets and halting any sort of progress.

The custodians of football in SA are sitting back, quite literally, watching the PSL turn into a circus.

For years now there has been an outcry for match officials to turn professional – but suggestions that plans are afoot to begin some sort of competent wing for referees has simply been a talk shop.

Nobody seems to be catching a wake up call, it’s only coaches who are picking up phone calls to be informed that they have been fired. And Molekwa has admitted as much, that he expects to be unemployed in the coming weeks.

Sure, some of it is his own doing, in the sense that Polokwane City have now lost four matches in succession and are currently second from bottom on the standings after six league matches. But how many points, picked up or dropped, having been influenced by the referee – most recently Muvhali? Unfortunately, the answer to that question will make you grimace.

Muvhali needs to account for his errors, but it’s likely that the trend will continue if SA football bosses don’t wake up from their slumber.