Sports Sermon Opinion
Kaizer Chiefs supporters are still frothing at the mouth after their club lost 1-2 to Mamelodi Sundowns in dramatic fashion at an FNB Stadium bursting at the seams with football-crazed fans.
Indeed in real time, it looked like Amakhosi were pinched. Their millions of fans were ready to burn the country down. Even after two former Fifa and CAF acclaimed referees Victor Hlungwane and Ace Ncobo unpacked the rules and laws of the game, the love for the club goes beyond any degree of objectivity and they are having none of it.
Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie also entered the fray. We’re still not sure if McKenzie was speaking from the point of view of a concerned minister or, like the legions of Amakhosi faithful, was enraged because he thought that the referee robbed his favourite club.
He said he was going to push for the introduction of the video assistant referee (VAR) technology and that he was summoning both Safa president Danny Jordaan and PSL head honcho Irvin Khoza to chew some fat on the matter.
We comprehend that when people are angry, they will call for the most obvious intervention – and not the most clinical, effective and intelligent solution. McKenzie was just one of those, and he can do better than spit mere talk-shops. The other day, he said that he does not have full confidence in the Safa leadership, without an iota of action, afterwards.
Since last week’s controversial match, even my dog Arafat, wanted to weigh in on VAR but his mind was soon fixed on the derrière of the neighbourhood postman, Bra Johanes.
What people do not comprehend is that VAR has not entirely solved refereeing issues. Granted, and yes, it has curtailed the blatant cheating.
The popular Europe-based diski website onefootball.com has pinpointed VAR’s silly mistakes, especially in the English Premiership where mind-boggling calls have been made, courtesy of the system.
“There have been numerous instances of VAR making inconsistent and unfair decisions, such as disallowing goals for marginal offside infractions.
“The introduction of VAR was initially welcomed, with naked-eye refereeing decisions often proving detrimental in games and many branding football ‘outdated’. However, after its introduction, it has never been too far away from controversy,” the website opines.
“From the subjective interpretation of clear and obvious errors, and disruptive delays in gameplay, to the technology’s tendency to scrutinise marginal offside decisions, often resulting in goals being disallowed for tiny infractions not easily discernible in real-time.
“It has also diminished the authority of on-field referees. It is safe to say many football fans, players and managers are at the end of their tether.”
This is the sixth season and the EPL has still not gotten VAR right. So, those fickle and angry PSL supporters better think of other realistic and sensible solutions – like turning match officials professional, instead of making refereeing a side hustle or a moonlighting gig.
Refereeing, as a vocation, has not been given the important chair it deserves at the table, and until then, fans better brace themselves for the worst. VAR alone cannot solve all the problems we saw this past week.
There’s also that small matter of the VAR equipment. Are we going to have the VAR apparatus at the Athlone Stadium, at Chatsworth, or at the uMhlathuze Sports Complex in Richards Bay? How about the Princess Magogo in KwaMashu or the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium? Or will it be just for the league’s big boys club? So many questions and yet so few answers.
