PSL chair Khoza tells parliament he would be ‘shooting in the dark’ talking about VAR

The much-talked about implementation of video assistant referee (VAR) has been cast into doubt again with Premier Soccer League (PSL) chair Irvin Khoza asking to be excused from questions on the matter addressing parliament’s portfolio committee on sport, arts and culture on Monday.

Khoza asked to stand down from the meeting saying he would not be able to answer to questions about VAR implementation because there are outstanding meetings with the South African Football Association (Safa) and sports minister Gayton McKenzie.

Last weekend, McKenzie sent a Safa project team led by former referee Daniel Bennett to Spain to meet with potential suppliers on a fact-finding mission as he pushes ahead with his plans to implement VAR.

Khoza indicated the PSL was not involved the process and said he could only answer questions once there have been proper consultations and they are on the same page with Safa and the Department of Sport.

“Where we are as the league, it is difficult to make a contribution in this meeting. In my response to you, I said I can only respond to the extent possible,” Khoza said.

“We thought it was going to be fair that we come here in one voice with the national association and there are meetings outstanding with the minister.

“In September 2024, he [McKenzie] gave us the good news when he said he wants to meet with us as the PSL and we met him the following day.

“He gave me the good news and I shared with the executive committee that money would be made available to implement VAR.

Whether the funding is going to be there or not going into the future, we are not sure. But more importantly, at this point we are not sure what the incidental expenses are that go with VAR.

—  Irvin Khoza

“Where we are now, there are one or two outstanding issues and information that we have not received yet. We are asking for your good selves to give us permission to stand down.

“The minister on September 4 issued a statement that was good news. We want to make sure that we follow up on that statement so when we respond to questions in this parliament there is clarity.”

Safa head of referees Abdul Ebrahim said the association would engage the PSL after their fact-finding mission.

“They are a very important stakeholder in this because VAR needs to be implemented in PSL,” said Ebrahim, as he battled to explain why the PSL have not been properly briefed on the issue.

“They will have to be engaged and we have to get the buy-in from the PSL. That is extremely important and that engagement still has to take place.

“A meeting needs to be held with all the necessary stakeholders who are going to be involved with VAR. Hence the project team are doing all their fact-finding at the moment so that when that meeting is held all the information can be provided to all the necessary stakeholders and the PSL is a very important one.”

Khoza said the PSL supports the implementation of VAR but stressed there are more questions than answers on how it can be rolled out.

“We have chronological processes we have followed in making sure VAR becomes a reality. But more importantly, what makes us uncomfortable is that our funding model is sensitive.

“Right now we are funded by broadcast rights, which are now owned by a new company [French firm Canal+ has bought PSL rights-holder MultiChoice] and we still need to understand how they operate.

“Whether the funding is going to be there or not going into the future, we are not sure. But more importantly, at this point we are not sure what the incidental expenses are that go with VAR.

“I thought it was important to engage on these matters with our mother association and the minister for clarity. At the moment, we will be shooting in the dark and talking past each other.

“I want to err on the side of caution and make sure we are given the opportunity [to be informed] on what the committee wants us to answer.

“We have a lot of questions to ask, which are not for this meeting but they are for the [PSL-Safa] joint liaison committee meeting with Safa where we have the authority to engage on matters of common interests.

“Also we are not sure if it is full VAR or light VAR. We hope now they are going to give us information as to what VAR they are talking about.

“Can you relieve us today so that when we come back we have the proper report and talk to the facts that are on the table. Right now it is going to be a problem for me as chair of the league.

“We welcome the announcement but it’s important for us to comply within the obligations of the PSL. It is very important for the integrity of our fixtures.

“I don’t think we are ready as the PSL to participate because there is information we don’t have.”