For far too long, bad officiating, diving and other forms of cheating have been disfiguring the game people love, that’s according to South African football prince, Jomo Sono. The Black Prince of SA football has urged SAFA to act on the bad state of officiating in the game.
In the past few weeks, Pretoria Callies head coach Kwanele Kopo has ranted against referees for poor officiating in their 1-0 controversial defeat to Polokwane City at Lucas Moripe Stadium.
And recently, in a game between Polokwane City and LA Masia, a shocking decision was also taken, as a referee pointed to the penalty spot after a City player seemingly brought down La Masia’s defender in the box. City ended up winning the match, as they came back from two goals down to win 2-1.
This match is regarded by many as the most controversial match in the Motsepe Foundation Championship this season, and Sono warned people that “somebody will get hurt” if the bad refereeing continues.
The Jomo Cosmos owner, whose team got relegated last season to the ABC Motsepe League, said the officials played a role in the team losing, and asked for a massive investigation into how this is happening in the league.
“When you look at the videos you can see there is game robbery, but what are the leaders doing about it, that’s the big problem?”, asked Sono, as quoted by SABC Sport.
“If someone sends you a video like that, and you see it, and you say no, there is no evidence, then I have a concern with the leadership.
“Why do you train when you will be robbed, why you get involved when you get robbed openly like this? I don’t say who was robbed, but I saw the video, and I was shocked.
“The guy kicked the ball out, they collide, penalty… come on, come on, you don’t do that. That’s unethical. The referees who have done some of these games should be kicked out of football.
“Clubs are getting tired, somebody is going to get hurt if they don’t stop this nonsense, somebody will get hurt for sure.”
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