Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
ON the final round of the Castle Lager Premiership fixtures for the 2024 season, highly questionable decisions made by out-of-sorts referee, Quedisani Dirwai could have easily saved Bulawayo Chiefs from relegation.
Bulawayo Chiefs took the lead in the 62nd minute when Dirwai, who appeared to be their 12th player from the onset of the encounter, pointed t0 the spot after midfielder, Godfrey Muchenje tumbled on his own in the box.
Dirwai’s controversial decisions seemed to be in favour of the Bulawayo side at first, but later became a clear case of ineptness. He was it again in the 82nd minute when he, not only awarded the hosts a penalty from virtually nothing, but also unjustifiably sent Bulawayo Chiefs’ defender, Jameson Masaza for an early shower.
This is just a tip of the iceberg as far as poor match officiating in the Castle Lager Premiership is concerned, more so for the just-ended 2024 season.
No wonder, in a wide-ranging interview with Post Sport on the performance of the referees for the 2024 season, the ZIFA Referees Committee boss, Norman Matemera said: “2024, referees’ performance, I can say, was a mixed bag.
The first 10 weeks were challenging for us. Referees were not consistent, there was a lack of uniformity and they were making too many mistakes. This was due to the long break from the Covid-19 pandemic and international ban.
“The referees were still trying to get their feet right in terms of current trends. That is the time we sanctioned quite a number of referees for various offences of poor performance. We also organised numerous training sessions for our referees so that they could catch up with modern refereeing trends.”
The ZIFA Referees Committee chairman noted a marginal improvement as the season progressed.
“As we worked round the clock, we managed to stabilise the situation. There was stability from then on until the end of the season. Thereafter, along the way in the season, we would get one or two matches where the referees did not perform to our expectations,” he said.
Matemera singled out Brighton Chimene, Grace Gimo and Mercy Chipo Mayimbo for honours for their fine performance on the international scene.
“On the international scene, we are proud to say all our FIFA referees, 14 of them, had an opportunity to go out and represent the country. They officiated in World Cup qualifiers, CHAN qualifiers and club Champions League matches.
“Grace Gimo represented us at the All Africa Games and performed very well. Our referees also represented the country well at all COSAFA competitions this year and managed to do well. We even had Claris Simango, who officiated in the COSAFA Women’s final. This shows that the efforts we are making locally are being noticed by others. We are proud that Brighton Chimene is now a VAR certified referee, Grace Gimo and Mercy Chipo Mayimbo are next in the line to be certified, too,” said Matemera.
He noted the need to get a number of local referees to acquire VAR certification.
“With our referees getting VAR certification, they will be getting more games as they will be at par with other competing countries. Without VAR certification, it was really difficult for them to get games. Resultantly, Brighton Chimene received an invitation for CHAN preparatory course for 2025, which is a milestone. I can say that consistency is the hallmark of refereeing,” he said.
Matemera called on authorities to enact laws that make match fixing illegal.
“The darkest hour of our refereeing this year was when Kudzanayi Hiya was sanctioned for match fixing. The sanction of five years was severe and deterrent to would-be perpetrators of match fixing and manipulation.
“We ask our parliamentarians to quickly make laws that criminalise match fixing and save our football. It takes two to be involved in match fixing, and both must be sanctioned. We always educate our referees to recognise, resist and report issues of match fixing.
“Other dark days of our refereeing were when matches were abandoned, in Mandava, Wadzanayi, Karoi and Shamva. Violence against our referees, though less than last year, was witnessed also this year,” he said.
Matemera believes there is need to invest in technology for the local match officials to match international standards.
“Overall, our referees performed satisfactorily, though there is a big room for improvement. I feel that as a country, we have to move with time technology wise. Our fans watch a lot of football across the world on television and are exposed to technology aided refereeing. When they watch our referees, they forget that we are not technologically aided, and we get unfairly criticised.
We ask our football leadership to invest heavily in our football to get better rewards,” he said.
