PSL not yet been informed by league's prosecutor of any pending charges against coaches
The heat has been taken up a notch on match officials in the Absa premiership in recent weeks with a succession of coaches using the media to voice their anger and frustration over the performance of the men in the middle and their assistants.
Much has centred around games involving Kaizer Chiefs and a perception‚ from coaches at least‚ that there is a bias from match officials towards the current league leaders.
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) has been silent on the outbursts‚ which could be construed as bringing the game into disrepute.
PSL spokesperson Luxolo September says it is not a matter for them as administrators‚ but rather the league’s prosecutor‚ Nande Becker‚ who has not confirmed any cases to date.
“The league has got a prosecutor who looks at these things‚ so it is unfair as an administrator to comment on this‚” September tells TimesLIVE.
“It is fair to rather give the prosecutor the space to look at these things. The PSL administration has no say in what the prosecutor does‚ he is completely independent and that is the way it should be.”
September adds that the PSL have not yet been informed by Becker of any pending charges against coaches.
“We learn of these cases at the same time as the people who are being charged. There are none that I am aware of at the moment.”
Becker could not be immediately reached for comment by TimesLIVE.
The latest coach to voice his displeasure is Mamelodi Sundowns tactician Pitso Mosimane‚ who felt Chiefs striker Samir Nurkovic was offside when he bundled the ball into the net for the opener in Sunday’s 2-0 league victory for the AmaKhosi.
The controversy centred around whether fellow striker Leonardo Castro had touched the ball before Nurkovic scored.
If he had‚ the Serbian was offside. If he hadn’t‚ he was on. Referee Victor Hlungwani went with the latter‚ but Mosimane was having none of it.
“The goal that they scored was offside. The first person to touch it was Castro. They benefited from the linesman’s mistake. Do you want to justify how many times Kaizer Chiefs win with the referees’ mistakes?” an irate Mosimane said in his post-match interview.
“I will give the benefit of the doubt if we play against AmaZulu or Golden Arrows. But against Kaizer Chiefs‚ there is no space. There is no benefit of doubt for Kaizer Chiefs because they have benefited a lot.”
Mosimane is not the only coach to let rip‚ just last week Benni McCarthy did likewise in his criticism of referee Abongile Tom in their penalty shoot-out loss to Chiefs in the Telkom Knockout Last 16.
“The referee was terrible‚ he might as well have just put on a Kaizer Chiefs shirt‚” McCarthy told reporters.
“And I hear he is from Cape Town‚ so he had to prove a point that there was no bias. They (the match officials) were useless.
“No wonder Chiefs won because it was one-way traffic from the referees‚ as it has in the last few games for Kaizer Chiefs.
“The minute you ask (about a decision) you are told‚ ‘hush it‚ or I send you off’. So when they have those kind of powers‚ coaches must say nothing.”
Even the usually mild-mannered Lamontville Golden Arrows coach Steve Komphela was left fuming by what he perceived as disrespect from referee Jelly Chavani the week before last as the coaches continue their fightback against the officials.
"The referee was disrespectful and I can never allow that‚” he said after the 1-0 victory over Polokwane City in the Telkom Knockout.
“The manner he was communicating with me‚ we can never allow such in our game‚ regardless of his job. He must learn to respect coaches‚ period. He's probably in his late 20s‚ I didn't like his attitude."