Refs in fight for air time

THE “Hanging Judge”, Errol Sweeney, made a welcome appearance on a SuperSport chat show this week, giving razorsharp insights to the mediocre standard of world refereeing. “I think the referees have lost the original idea of what brought them into football — the commitment to be fair, unbiased and an objective arbitrator in an incident or incidents that happen,” Sweeney said. “Particularly in the UK, refs have become the stars the players are.” This legend may be getting on, but he should still be refereeing, or at the very least involved in raising the standard here in SA. After all, any mad Irishman who had the balls to give Manchester United’s Bryan Robson his first-ever red card has our respect.

SOUTH Africa might not have qualified for the World Cup, but that doesn’t mean we cannot enjoy some spying intrigue in the build-up to the Brazil kickoff in two months’ time. Carlos Queiroz’s qualifiers, Iran, have been in SA — we believe somewhere in the region of Nelspruit — reportedly prompting Group F opponents Nigeria to send their spies to Mpumalanga. Perhaps both have wasted their time — due to clubs being involved in the Asian Champions League, Queiroz has only been able to muster 11 out of his 28 players, and no goalkeeper. We believe the former Bafana Bafana coach has enlisted the local Gogos United to beef up the numbers. It’s all going to make for bewildering reading for “Big Boss” Stephen Keshi when his spies file their reports.

AFTER coach Pitso Mosimane’s tears flowed from his side’s 2-1 Nedbank Cup defeat to Orlando Pirates, the Sundowns technical staff are believed to have added Kleenex to their shopping list of equipment needed on match days.