South African Refereering Under the Microscope As Local FAs Entrusted With Grassroots Development

• South Africa has one referee at AFCON and one official assigned to the VAR box
• SAFA is languishing behind established leagues in being able to implement VAR
• Local Football Associations are the first point of entry for young and aspiring officials

Commandeering the whistle for a football match is a thankless task.

It takes a special love of the game to be a referee, as they are often berated for 90 minutes, and then used as the scapegoat in the aftermath of tight contests.

The high-pressure job comes with many pitfalls and some have asked if enough is being done to promote and protect this vital facet of the games.

Of the 68 referees, assistant referees and video assistants at AFCON 2023, South Africa has just two officiating representatives.

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Abongile Tom is tasked with on-field duties while Akhona Makilima forms part of the VAR team. By contrast, Egypt and Morocco have seven each, as listed by CAF.

A former South African CAF referee believes this is insufficient, and worse, the standards of referring have slipped in South Africa.

Victor Hlungwani spent 20 years in the middle and decried the current pool of referees and the lack of VAR. Sunday World quoted his thoughts on South Africa's limited representation at AFCON 2023:

"The performance of our officials in the PSL has not been good enough in recent years. It is imperative that Safa and the PSL move with time. Maybe this is a question Victor Gomes must answer as he is the head of our referees."

The pathway to becoming a referee begins at amateur club level. As per SAFA policy, aspiring referees must first be affiliated with a Local Football Association (LFA).

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Clifford Graaff is the Head of Referees for Rand Central LFA in Johannesburg. He is a SAFA-approved instructor and assessor as well as a Level 5 SAFA referee with 25 years of experience. Elaborating on the scope of his work, Graaff told Sports Brief:

"Rand Central LFA are one of the top three in South Africa with regards to referees. We are the largest in the Johannesburg region. The amount of games that we oversee from a Friday to a Sunday afternoon is 120 games."

The Randburg FC affiliate manages roughly 50 officials and has just recruited 13 more at their recent assessment day. Calling on aspiring refs, he stated the characteristics an official needs:

"Impartiality and a hard head, because whichever way you blow, someone is going to be unhappy. A ref must be able to accept that and accept the feedback from the player and the coaches. If you show potential and if we see you are on a fast-track path, then you go."

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Victor Gomes himself began in the LFA ranks and in June 2023, via SAFA, announced that VAR implementation was moving closer to becoming a reality.

Sports Brief sent additional questions to SAFA's media and referees office but no response has yet been received.

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AFCON 2023's five female officials

Sports Brief recently compiled a list of the five female referees officiating at AFCON 2023.

The five female refs come from Mauritius, Zambia, South Africa, Rwanda and Morocco.

Three of the officials are video assistants, one is an assistant ref and one is a head referee.