Learn from English refereeing

Editorial Comment
THE Premier Soccer League 2014 season is still some way off and it is time we should be reflecting and debating on how to improve, in all facets, the country’s most popular sport.

THE Premier Soccer League 2014 season is still some way off and it is time we should be reflecting and debating on how to improve, in all facets, the country’s most popular sport.

red-card

Clearly one area that needs some renovation is refereeing and a local football fan and lawyer, Matshobana Ncube, suggests that Zimbabwe needs to copy something positive from the Barclays Premier League (BPL) in the handling of matches.

Every weekend, and sometimes in mid-week, virtually the whole of Zimbabwe joins millions of other people in the rest of the world to watch the live coverage of BPL matches and there are some very inexpensive positives that Zimbabwe can take aboard.

In England red cards issued during matches can be rescinded on appeal if the player and club think that the sending off was unwarranted or too harsh a punishment. There is also retrospective punishment for serious offences that are not picked by the match officials during a game.

When a team is aggrieved by a red card issued to one of its players it is allowed to lodge an appeal, within a specified time limit after the match, to the Football Association and a review panel, which constitutes an appeals committee, looks at the appeal and either confirms or rescinds the red card.

Where the appeal is considered legitimate the number of matches on suspension is maintained, but when the committee feels an appeal is frivolous and in order to reduce the incidence of frivolous appeals, the number of matches on suspension is increased.

This practice can surely be adopted in Zimbabwe as it is very inexpensive to implement and the human resources needed are easily and readily available — we have lots of retired referees and administrators who are very knowledgeable in terms of laws of the game and the correct interpretation thereof.

While the outcome of a match, which in fact could be a direct result of a red card issued, will not be changed, in keeping with the Fifa practice observed worldwide, a review of the red card issued during a match brings with it several advantages.

First and foremost the player will not serve a suspension he does not deserve.

Therefore, both himself and his club will not suffer further disadvantage other than that suffered when the player was sent off.

Secondly, the public will have some form of satisfaction that they, and their club, will earn some semblance of justice on appeal.

Some of the violence witnessed at local matches is a result of the hopelessness supporters of a team feel when they believe that a decision against one of their players is unfair. The hopelessness is even deeper when it is a red card as this has greater potential to change the destination of a match.

A feeling that there is possible justice on appeal, while it might not completely rule out a reaction of violence, especially in drunken elements, might certainly be assuaging to the less temperamental of supporters, thus reducing the disposition towards violence. The adoption of a review of red cards also would serve as an appraisal of some sort for the referee. When a referee has several red cards rescinded on appeal the message to such a referee is very clear indeed — his interpretation of the laws of the game regarding sending off of a player is weak, to use a kinder word.

The corollary is true of course! In other words, the performance of our referees will certainly improve. Adopting such a review practice also helps eliminate, or at least stamp out, the probability of referees deciding the outcome of a forthcoming fixture in an earlier match.

For example, if Highlanders are fixtures to play Dynamos in a cup match in a fortnight, a “corrupt” referee could send off a Dynamos or Highlanders player in an earlier match knowing very well that such a player will then miss the cup tie while serving his suspension, no matter how frivolous and unwarranted the red card was.

With an appeal possible, the player will be able to feature in the cup tie if the review panel agreed that the red card should not have been flashed — nullifying the scheme of the ‘corrupt’ referee.

And staying on refereeing, another practice worth copying from English soccer is the general reviewing of a referee’s performance during a match.

This review has nothing to do with whether a red card is issued or not, it is simply a performance appraisal, similar to what happens at work when workers have an annual job performance appraisal.

Such an appraisal would certainly not only help in improving the overall standard of refereeing in the PSL, but would also help in standardising refereeing.

At present one sometimes is left wondering if local referees come from the same school given the divergence in their interpretation of similar incidents during matches.

 Congratulations to veteran football administrator Musa Mandaza for being elected chairman of the Zifa Southern Region. Welcome back to football administration.

Mandaza has been in this office before and he will be the first to admit that one or two things did not got well in the past, due to one reason or another.

We are sure the Southern Region will benefit from Mandaza’s experience and will be the best managed of the country’s four football regions. Best of luck in your tenure!