The president of the South African Football Association (Safa) Danny Jordaan says he met PSL chairman Irvin Khoza on Thursday to get the video assistant referee (VAR) ball rolling.
Jordaan also mentioned talks with Showmax, the referees’ sponsors, to fund the project.
The two bodies are looking to implement VAR hopefully sometime in the next season.
This amidst cries from the football fraternity that VAR is a necessity in the PSL, with referees continuing to make questionable and bizarre calls during matches.
Refereeing in PSL matches leaves a lot to be desired and several match officials have been suspended or taken off the roll for mammoth mistakes and poor decision-making.
Referees fall under the ambit of Safa, who are the custodians of football in the country.
The PSL is the professional body and they pay and reimburse referees who take charge of their matches.
“I met with the league chairman (Khoza) to discuss the implementation of VAR.
“We are going to have a meeting with broadcasters SuperSport,” said Jordaan.
“One of the things our chairman of the referees committee Victor Gomes is dealing with is the training of VAR officials.
“There are only two referees who have been trained for VAR in the country – Gomes and Zakhele Siwela.
“Gomes has retired, so we do not have enough and we cannot implement without enough officials. So, first, the training must take place.
“The referees sponsor is Showmax. So, I said the starting point is that we must have talks with Showmax.
“VAR is part of the referees and Showmax is part of the referees,” he said.
“We should not be thinking of another sponsor different to the referees’ sponsor, otherwise you will have a conflict of interest.
“That meeting will happen, and we will have clarity. The important thing is the training of our officials – how long it will take and how many do we need for matches.”
Jordaan referred further enquiries to Gomes, who ignored our phone calls and disregarded the e-mail he said we should send him.
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