With only six rounds of DStv Premiership fixtures played so far, the match officials have been under a lot of pressure and scrutiny following some dubious calls made so far. Maybe the problem is not so much about the decisions but the inconsistency in the interpretation of the Laws of the Game. Unfortunately, match officials are like goalkeepers, because their mistakes affect the results of the game more so than a striker who missed a couple of chances. The results affect everyone, and it is not good for anyone in the football fraternity. However, is it all the match officials' fault? Isn't there anything that can be done to help them get better?
We would like to believe that no match official takes to the field with an intention to affect the result one way or the other. They go out there to give an honest service to the Beautiful Game, knowing that they can either enhance or destroy football's image through their actions. They know they play a crucial role in ensuring that the game is played in the spirit of Fair Play and that consistency is of paramount importance. We've already seen a couple of match officials being suspended for below par performances that resulted in questionable decisions. Look at the experience of the suspended officials and you start wondering where this is going?
It is one thing to suspend someone, but it is another thing to suspend, support and improve an individual. It is going to be interesting to see how the officials respond to their suspension because that will either make or break them. The last thing we want is for our officials going into matches scared to make mistakes, lest they find their names added to the growing suspension list. By so doing, the match officials will be setting themselves up for failure and making more mistakes. Yes, suspending match officials that are found to have transgressed is a norm, but are we being fair to the match officials?
Can we safely say all our match officials are getting all the necessary training with no stone left unturned in their preparation for the matches? Do our match officials, all of them, meet all the requirements to be on the refereeing panel? Is the match officials' match preparation adequate? Is there enough time spent on their preparation for the game? After the game, what happens? Is there a postmortem where their performance is analysed and critiqued to ensure they don't become repeat offenders? Do our match officials know the calls they got right and wrong after each game, so that they can continue to improve their game? Are the match commissioners playing their part, to guide and mentor the match officials, to the best of their ability? Is their best enough?
Based on the mistakes we've seen committed by our match officials so far, most football supporters will agree that it doesn't look like all the boxes have been ticked. Having dealt with a couple of match officials, over the years, a lot of people will probably not believe that these people travel on matchday! Yes, you heard right, match officials travel on matchday, while the visiting team will travel a day before the game. This is done so that the visitors can acclimatise to the weather conditions and have enough time to prepare for the game. For the match officials, it is only when there are no direct flights on matchday that they will fly a day before the game.
We are not talking about commentators but people who are physically involved in the game, running the line and racing with action to make sure that the game flows and is played within the Laws of the Game. Do you expect the officials to be immune to jetlag when they finally take to the field? A lot is at stake for every game played, yet the officials are treated as unimportant when their decisions affect everyone. These people are only second to the footballers on the field of play, but they are made to travel on matchday. Think of a social visit, flying to Johannesburg from Cape Town, for instance, and the difference in humidity and how it affects you on the first day. Imagine having to run in an end-to-end clash, trying your level best to get every decision correct.
Travelling is one of the biggest and most practical challenges that match officials face in our game, but you don't hear anything being said about it. People judge them based on what they see on the field of play, whereas the players they are running with had a proper rest and preparation for the game. The match officials, whenever possible, fly in and out on the same day. Remember, these aren't full-time employees, so they have their daily jobs to rush back to. Sometimes they have to be excused from the games they were scheduled for because of work commitments.
In any case, the full-time job will always take preference over the side hustle and you wonder why our officials have been so inconsistent? Much as mistakes will always be part of the game, surely avoiding travelling on matchday would go a long way in minimising these mistakes and ensuring that match officials are fresh and ready for action. Football isn't just about the 90 minutes on the field, things that happen before and after the game have a huge impact on the performance on the field. Sometimes wrong decisions are due to fatigue and the distance between the referee and the incident. The closer the referee's proximity to the action, the better chances of less mistakes.
However, for the referee to be in close proximity, it requires fitness, which can be nullified, easily, by fatigue or different weather conditions that were not acclimatised to. Yes, match officiating is a side hustle to all our officials, but that doesn't mean they don't give it the same level of respect or attention to detail as they do their daily jobs. The working conditions are just, sometimes, not favourable. Also, has anyone noticed how match commissioners are 'homeboys' and seldom go out of their 'comfort zone' to operate outside of their hometown? Imagine if different match commissioners travelled across the country and shared their experience with the match officials. Oh shucks, that's impossible because the match commissioners have daily jobs to report to the next morning, so they can't be travelling.
Before we forget, any mistake that affects the game negatively will result in a suspension. That's the way to clean the game and we have all accepted that as the way to go. However, when there is no consistency, the whole objective is lost and can be misconstrued. When Themba Zwane scored from an offside position, in the MTN8 quarterfinal clash against Moroka Swallows, that goal was enough to change the game into Downs' favour as they went on to win by that solitary goal.
Who was suspended from that game? Was the mistake not costly enough to warrant a suspension? There was a suspension from the Sekhukhune v Swallows game, but if consistency prevailed, it all should have started in the first match. When we talk about "rehabilitation", what does it entail? Isn't this another attempt to pull wool over our eyes and lead us into believing that something gets done after an official has been suspended? From what we have heard, "rehabilitation" means the official is off-camera and will not be appointed until their suspension period elapses. If you remember the last edition about the "microwave" system used in our match officials, we mentioned the lack of enough experienced campaigners in the industry, as most of the officials are of the same experience and quality. The old guard has been shifted aside, with the young and more energetic campaigners being pushed up the pecking order. Is it fair to suspend these officials, under the circumstances? Are they judged fairly?
Cheers,
VeeJay
