PSL referees are a ticking time bomb
When two men exchange words and continuously disagree it usually ends up with a good old fistfight.
Assistant referee Mervyn Van Wyk (far left) has been sanctioned for his blunders in the AmaZulu/Chiefs game.
Football players pushing referee around is inevitable with the poor quality of refereeing in the local leagues.
We can dismiss the mistakes made by the match officials to human error but when it starts happening every weekend, then clearly there is serious need for attention.
The South African Football Association (Safa), which is in charge of referees in the country, has put rules in place to ensure that match officials toe the line, however this has not helped because they continue making glaring mistakes.
Safa’s attempts to keep referees in check is as useless as putting a piece of plastic over a broken window and hoping it keeps the water out during the rainy season.
The association has not addressed the elephant in the room of inadequately training and paying match officials for them to do their job correctly.
PSL coaches are right to vent their anger at official, but maybe their energy is directed at the wrong place – the stove and pots are not blamed for a bad meal but the cook takes the fall.
Safa and PSL need to take responsibility and find out why referees have come under fire this season before punishing them and shifting the blame as if they are not part of the problem.
It is only a matter of time before players get fed up and retaliate so Safa better make a plan before it’s too late.
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