Premier Soccer League chairman Irvin Khoza says he has not turned a deaf ear to the on-going cry to have Video Assistant Referee (VAR) implemented in South Africa's top-flight.
Khoza says after numerous consultations with Mzansi’s football governing body, the South African Football Association (SAFA), the ball is now in the Association’s hands.
VAR was first introduced in 2018 and saw a rapid rollout in Europe, while in Africa, the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations was the first tournament to have VAR in all 52 games.
Competitions like the CAF Champions League, CAF Confederation Cup also make use of the technology, but only in the latter stages of the tournaments.
“In December 2022, Multichoice came forward and wanted to assist with implementing this VAR thing, and we had a test run. Unfortunately, we went to the national association at that time and there were only two referees qualified to operate VAR.
“A month ago, we were in a committee meeting and discussed this matter and they are fast-tracking the training of people to be able to man the VAR,” said Khoza.
VAR, meanwhile, came into the spotlight and was under a lot of scrutiny on the opening day of the 2024 Olympic Games in France where a match between Morocco and Argentina was suspended for about two hours. Fans, visibly those of Morocco, threw missiles at the celebrating Argentina team after they had scored with one minute left of additional time.
The man in the middle ordered both teams to march off the field and were later recalled to resume the match. But before the game could be played to a finish, it was announced that Argentina’s potential equalizer was ruled out by VAR due to an offside. Morocco went on to win the game 2-1.
However, the appetite for VAR remains huge in South Africa but Khoza insists that there is nothing the PSL exco can do beyond engagements with SAFA, as the Danny Jordaan-led Association is responsible for dispatching match officials for all competitions in the country.
“I don’t know after watching the 2024 Euros, whether the VAR is now attractive. But we want to go there to assist because people are now saying it kills the excitement, and Sepp Blatter (former FIFA president) was the one who was strongly against it.
“But why take out the human element? But again, to avoid finger-pointing, because there was a lot of finger-pointing. ‘No, that goal of Orlando Pirates was not a penalty. No, but the guy dived. No, that goal of Mamelodi Sundowns’. It creates conversation.
“In November 2022, we were ready to run a trial on VAR, along with SuperSport TV. We were prepared to do a test run.
“We are still committed to VAR but SAFA said they will take over, which is correct because they own the referees. Even last month there was a discussion in the joint liaison committee. We will wait for the signal from them,” Khoza explained.
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