Incredible Amount of Referees Trained for VAR as Urgent Implementation is Called for

• At some point, the video assistant referee system will be implemented in South African professional football
• There have been calls for this to happen since it was first fully rolled out during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil
• The South African Football Association and the Premier Soccer League are at long last set to work together to make it happen

Believed to be at loggerheads about the eventual implementation of the video assistant referee in South African football, SAFA and the Premier Soccer League appear to be finding a common wavelength.

This is if what South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan said is anything to go by. However, there is much still to be done by the looks of things.

He said to the Sunday World:

“I met with the league chairman (Khoza) to discuss the implementation of VAR. We are going to have a meeting with broadcasters SuperSport. One of the things our chairman of the referees committee Victor Gomes is dealing with is the training of VAR officials.

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Jordaan confirmed that thus far, only two referees who have been trained for VAR in the country – Gomes and Zakhele Siwela.

“Gomes has retired, so we do not have enough and we cannot implement without enough officials. So, first, the training must take place. The referees sponsor is Showmax. So, I said the starting point is that we must have talks with Showmax. VAR is part of the referees and Showmax is part of the referees."

SAFA and PSL fight over VAR

In February, Sports Brief reported on how the PSL and SAFA were not seeing things eye-to-eye when it comes to VAR.

The two organisations were reportedly arguing over who will be in charge of implementing the video assistant referee system in the league, and other ones at a later date.

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Ngcobo targets VAR implementation

It is fitting that Andile 'Ace' Ngcobo's other nickname is 'VAR'.

The legendary former FIFA referee earned this nickname for his contribution on local television when reviewing refereeing flashpoints from the previous week's matches. He is now back in the Premier Soccer League as its general manager, which could be significant when it comes to the video assistant referee.