Referee bias row bubbling over
SAFA LASHED FOR ‘DOUBLE STANDARDS’ Rulings in Chiefs, Pirates matches ‘were not punished’.
The Safa Referees Association’s proclaimed intention to clamp down on erring referees has generally been welcomed – but with accusations of double standards souring the initiative.
“Teams are not treated equally in this respect,” said one incensed official. “Yes the Referees Association have come down heavily on some of the poor refereeing appointments. But when these have related to one of the glamour clubs like Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates benefiting from refereeing blunders, nothing is done to punish the offenders.”
As example of this is the heavy punishment meted out to referee Cedrick Muvhali and assistant referee Patrick Jafta for their performances in the controversial game between Cape Town City and Polokwane City.
A perfectly legitimate goal for the Cape Town side was disallowed for off-side despite a Polokwane defender standing on the goalline, with what seemed a compensating penalty awarded to Cape Town City soon afterwards from which they won the match.
Muvhali and Jafta have been suspended for three months without pay and will not be able to officiate in Premier League matches when they return to duty in January – having to undergo a veritable trial examination in NFD games before qualifying again to officiate in the NSL top division.
“In contrast to this,” is the claim, “when Chiefs and Pirates won recent matches with the help of what appeared incorrect refereeing rulings, no action has been taken against the offenders”.
Safa, for their part, point to the fact that the circumstances in each game are evaluated and if mistakes are made they are not necessarily the same or of a similar serious nature.
And they rejected the allegation that certain clubs were treated differently than others when evaluating referees performances.
But despite this Golden Arrows are still fuming over the penalty award to Chiefs that cost them a place in the coming Telkom Cup semifinals, with a number of dubious decisions favouring Pirates recently also seemingly not serious enough to warrant disciplinary action.