Former FIFA World Cup referee Victor Gomes says plans to introduce the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in South Africa are at an advanced stage. However, he admitted that the country is not yet ready to implement such advanced technology.
The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) introduced VAR last year.
There was an outcry over referees’ errors in the league almost on a weekly basis this season. This has prompted the call for the introduction of Video Assistant Referees from many quarters to alleviate the crisis.
Gomes says the plans to introduce VAR are at an advanced stage, but the country is not quite geared for it yet.
“No we are not ready it’s a process, we need to train referees the broadcasters must also come on board, we don’t want to rush it and get it wrong, we want everybody to trust it.”
The Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) introduced VAR last year and became the first region to do so. Gomes says the regional organisation is assisting South Africa in implementing VAR.
“This is one of the things they have helped us lead the way with the VAR training centre and it’s going to help COSAFA countries to get VAR and as the chairman of referees in South Africa, I know it’s on the way. We are progressing very fast,” Gomes adds.
The referees have come under criticism for poor decisions throughout the season. But Gomes says the officials can’t shoulder all the blame.
He adds, “We are setting up the stage where referees can’t make the error of judgment, we need to start changing mindset about referees, the better the playing is the better the refereeing, it goes hand in hand and we need to start working on this together.”
Gomes goes on to say that there are also plans to introduce educational programmes for stakeholders such as the media and football experts, who are sometimes found wanting when it comes to understanding the laws of the game.
“I would like to congratulate the media where we are using correct terminology coming to the laws of the game. We are pushing for an educational programme to bring things in line because many times referees are making correct decisions, but they are negatively looked at. We want to improve knowledge so that everyone is on the same panel,”
Gomes won the COSAFA Referee Legend award in the inaugural COSAFA awards in Johannesburg recently.
