Newly appointed chairperson of the association’s Referees Committee in South Africa, Victor Gomes, will make the introduction of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) as one of his priorities.
This is after the South African Football Association (Safa) announced the appointment of the renowned referee as the head of the referees committee, during the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Kempton Park on Friday.
Gomes said that as part of his plans to improve the standard of refereeing in SA, introducing the long-awaited VAR system in the PSL will be top on his list of priorities.
“That will be something that will be high on my priorities, obviously we will engage with the relevant stakeholders. It is something I have already addressed the NEC on and it’s going to be on my priority list,” Gomes told the media.
The 40-year-old emphasized that the timeline of when the VAR would be implemented has not been confirmed, as referees would still have to undergo training.
“There are timelines, referees need to be trained, there needs to be hours and stuff, so I am very glad that the CEO [Tebogo Motlanthe] did not commit to a timeline,” Gomes said.
“We will then discuss those timelines and then we can come back to that. But there are various things that need to be addressed, and as I said to the NEC, we need to look at things differently now, and start poking on each department to see where we can improve.”
Gomes announced his retirement shortly after the 2022 Fifa World Cup which was held in Qatar. The highly decorated international referee said that he hung his whistle and put his cards on the shelve to make way for upcoming referees in the country.
“Honestly, I would not have done justice to football if I kept on. We have other top promising referees that are coming, and if I did not move out and give others space, I think it would have just prolonged everything.
“I want to give back to football and God has provided me with this opportunity to give back. I have officiated every single match in CAF at the highest level. I have done the Olympics, I have done the junior and senior World Cup, I now give the challenge to the next to come and do better than I did, that is my target,” added Gomes.
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