21 January 2021 – SAFA’s chair of the Referees Committee, Ms Natasha Tsichlas says efforts are being made to minimise avoidable mistakes by match officials. She however, said a few errors did not amount to a general low standards of refereeing.
The veteran football administrator said South Africa had some of the best officials – referees and assistant referees – on the continent as evidenced by the high number of officials on the FIFA panel.
‘’Yes, we might have had a few bad calls here and there by some officials but that does not amount to a blanket low standards of refereeing,’’ she said. Ms Tsichlas confirmed the Review Committee sits two to three times a week depending on the number of games within that particular period and sanctions the guilty parties accordingly.
She also said that in some cases, officials make right calls according to the book ‘but you still get complains only to find later that the match official was correct’.
‘’We review all matches and results are provided, in most cases, the following day and where an official is guilty, we sanction that individual without fear or favour.’’
The Chair of the Referees Committee said in coming weeks, all sanctions and review results will be made public without delay. ‘’With the blessing of SAFA President, Dr Danny Jordaan, we will publish all the outcomes on SAFA platforms,’’ said Ms Tsichlas adding that the Committee comprised of knowledgeable individuals.
‘’The Review Committee is made up of knowledgeable individuals and one of them is renowned referee, Chris Harrison whose career was cut short by an injury. He is also a respected attorney. ‘’These are difficult times, our officials are trying their best but that doesn’t mean we can condone poor officiating,” she concluded.
For further information please contact
SAFA: Head of Communications Dominic Chimhavi
Email: dominic.chimhavi@safa.net
Mobile: +27 71 332 9886