Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker was frothing at the mouth after his charges were knocked out of the Nedbank Cup — South African football’s equivalent of the FA Cup — by 3-1 in dramatic fashion at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha last Saturday.
Indeed, in real time, it looked like Stellies were pinched.
Barker, his players, and the technical team were ready to lynch the referee, Skhumbuzo Gasa, and his assistants.
Even after two former Fifa and Caf acclaimed referees Victor Hlungwani and Andile “Ace” Ncobo unpacked the laws of the game, the unhappiness is still palpable and the call for
Safa and the league to introduce the video assistant referee (VAR) technology can no longer be ignored.
While Gasa and his team were spot on with Pule Mmodi’s controversial goal that gave
Kaizer Chiefs a 2-1 lead, they were shoddy with other decisions in the game.
In fact, chiefs have the right to feel hard done by the refereeing team.
“Speedy Gonzales” Ashley du Preez was not awarded a penalty after he was fouled inside the box, and Stellies’ Ismael Toure should have been red-carded for various offences.
I have said before that VAR will not entirely solve refereeing issues in the bigger scheme of things.
It is human nature for people to always find excuses when things have not gone their way.
It is always easier to point a finger at the next person when you did not plan or prepare diligently for an assignment.
Let’s be honest, Stellies were nowhere near winning that match.
They did hold their own and managed to equalise late in the game, but it is fair to say that they were not the lethal team that they have become in recent years.
The Chiefs had a bit of an edge and were uplifted by the almost sell-out crowd in the stands — everything on the night was going for them.
Barker could not even contain himself after the match.
He did not even try — he did not give an analysis of the proceedings and only highlighted the number of times his club has been cheated by the big bullies in the PSL, before walking away.
He mentioned their previous losses to the Orlando Pirates and another defeat at the hands of the Chiefs via alleged dubious refereeing.
This is the sixth season, and the English Premier League has still not gotten VAR right. So angry coaches and supporters, including Minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture Gayton McKenzie, better think of other realistic and sensible solutions.
Europe-based diski website onefootball.com has highlighted silly VAR’ 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.
“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 game play, 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.”
I would have understood if Barker’s boys were all over Chiefs, but they were not, and Chiefs looked better on the night.
Sometimes we just have to learn to accept defeat and plot for revenge in the next match; that’s how sports should be.
