Retired referee Jerome Damon will take over as the chairman of Safa’s referees technical committee in January. This was confirmed by Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe, who explained that they were working on finishing the final touches to the committee.
“We are just finalising the referee’s structure and committee. We want to include former and retired referees – according to Fifa regulations. Damon will start in the new year, but we will have talks with him when we are back in office in January,” said Motlanthe.
The position has been vacant for some time and there were calls to have this all-important post filled as a matter of urgency. Natasha Tsichlas is the former chairperson of the committee and has had to step down after she was elected as vice-president of the association in the elective congress in June.
According to Fifa, the referees committee shall be composed only of former match officials (preferably having operated at the top level of their respective domestic competition) with a chairman, a deputy chairman and an adequate number of
other members.
“They shall not be affiliated to any clubs, leagues, any other football organisation or another referee organisation (union, membership group, etc). Active match officials shall not be eligible to become members of any referees
committee. 2. The chairman of the referees committee may be a member of the executive committee (provided the regulations of the relevant member associations allow it) but must be a former top-level match official. 3. The deputy chairman and the other members of the referees committee shall be appointed by the president of the member association on the proposal of the chairman of the referees committee,” reads the Fifa statutes.
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