Not so long ago, the Premier Soccer League was proclaimed to be among the Top 10 leagues in the world. I am not really sure who came up with that assertion, but it was not disputed, and the local football fraternity embraced it. It became one of the most commonly used phrases to portray the PSL.
There were no questions asked as to how they arrived at that conclusion. The declaration was just accepted as the gospel truth, and it did more damage than good to brand PSL. In hindsight, it should not have been allowed, because we are now suffering the repercussions of that propaganda.
Refereeing in the PSL has become a sham. It is now tainting the moral fibre of the league. People are now beginning to judge the referees’ boo-boos outside of human error. They are now suspecting that there could be a third force at play. In the 23 years that I have served as a sports reporter, I have covered some bizarre refereeing stories – I am not naïve. In 2004, I broke the Operation Dribble match-fixing exposé and won numerous awards as a result. The exposé was about match-fixing in the PSL that implicated numerous top-notch referees. Some of the referees were arrested by the police and some club officials too were implicated and nailed by the authorities.
What we are seeing in the DStv Premiership in the last couple of months is bringing flashbacks of 20 years ago. Refereeing standards have not only gone to the dogs, they are meeting the dogs halfway.
The Safa head of referees Abdul Ebrahim has his hands full dealing with referee’s mishaps and below par performances. Are the mistakes genuine or have we relapsed back into a state of corruption and match-fixing?
In 2010, the PSL endorsed the implementation of a professional structure for referees. The PSL executive endorsed the new structure, which was to become the model for referee development and professionalism in Africa. This was after world renowned English referee, David Elleray, made a presentation to the then PSL exco, which was unanimously endorsed by PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza and the entire executive.
Elleray said at the time: “South Africa is one of Africa’s leading football nations and the PSL the best professional soccer league on the continent. Having a professional refereeing structure will raise the reputation of South African referees and football in Africa and the world.”
In a league that rates itself so high, whether rightfully or otherwise, it is about time referees became professional. But this topic is a hot potato – who is going to foot the bill for referees’ salaries if they go full time?
Referees fall under the auspices of the mother body, Safa, and the PSL is the professional body under the National Soccer League umbrella. The two organisations have a well-documented Tom and Jerry kind of relationship, and as things stand, it is fair to say that there is no solution for refereeing in sight.
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