BidVest Wits coach Roger de Sa and his Platinum Stars counterpart, Miguel Gamondi, had one thing in common after the Students beat Stars 1-0 thanks to a controversial late penalty — they slammed match referee Boyile Gqubule’s handing of the match at Rustenburg’s Olympia Park on Wednesday night.
De Sa called on the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to implement full-time professional referees as a matter of urgency.
Said De Sa: ”The game in South Africa has moved forward with all the money involved. The clubs and players are now professional, so why do we not have professional referees? In my book the standard of refereeing has not improved despite all the cash injections into the game. If anything, the standard has dropped.”
Argentine born Gamondi was inconsolable and screaming blue murder at the match official for giving Wits what he termed ”a gift” penalty in the 78th minute, from which Marawaan Bantam scored the only goal of this otherwise unexciting clash.
Stormed Gamondi: ”This is not the first time we have suffered because of a terrible decision from the referee. It happened when we drew 1-1 against Golden Arrows last weekend. These refs are killing the game. How can you award a penalty when my defender Lefa [Mogaila] won the ball cleanly?”
Mogaila was penalised by Gqubule for fouling Wits’ Clifford Mulenga inside his penalty area. Gqubule also sent off Wits defender Patrick Phungwayo in the 90th minute for a second bookable offence.
Stars assistant coach Cavaan Johnson termed the decision as shocking. ”I could not believe my eyes when the ref pointed to the penalty spot.” De Sa also slated the overall performance of the referee and said he felt sorry for Gamondi and agreed the referee had a shocker.
On the penalty decision, De Sa said: ”It was a two-footed tackle. I have seen referees award penalties for this and then again some not. It was one of those things. I do feel for Gamondi, but what worried me was the ref kept making mistakes. He would try to even up a previous mistake by making another one. It was a poor display of refereeing.”
The Stars coach said he could handle losing, but added: ”I can accept defeat, but not like this. On the run of play Wits were on top of us in the first half, but we came back strongly after half-time and then were killed by the referee.
”What do you say to your players who have worked so hard to get back into the game and then lose to what, in my opinion, is a bad decision?”
But despite the controversy, Wits and De Sa have set a new record with the Milpark-based club. They have gone 360 minutes — four matches — without conceding a goal. They have won three and drawn their other league fixture to move three points ahead at the top of the table with 10 points.
Said De Sa: ”We have done fantastically well. The players are looking solid. It is a perfect start for us and now the challenge is to keep the momentum going. The players are enjoying their season and the spirit is second to none.”
Wits have demonstrated they will be one of the hardest sides to beat this season. But De Sa is too experienced to get carried away at this early stage of the season.
Said De Sa: ”Things are going great but it is still early days. We must keep this form going.”
SuperSport United can catch up to Wits when they travel to Durban on Sunday (3.30pm) when they come up against Thanda Royal Zulu.
In Wednesday’s other fixture, Ajax Cape Town bounced back with a 2-0 win over struggling Bloemfontein Celtic at the Athlone Stadium. — Sapa