Manqoba Mngqithi defends standard of officiating in PSL | OneFootball

Interview

Mngqithi comes to the defense of SA refs

Photo: Muzi Ntombela/ BackPagePix

Golden Arrows head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has come to the defense of South African referees amid growing discontent from supporters and pundits alike on the standard of officiating.

The officials have often come under scrutiny for making wrong offside calls, awarding dubious penalties, and questionable sending offs, among other things.

Notably, Mngqithi has constantly called for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to be implemented in the lucrative Betway Premiership.

However, despite persistent calls for the technology, the KZN-born mentor says the quality of referees in the country is elite, dismissing claims of low quality officiating.

“I would not really want to talk about the standard of refereeing because I think the quality of referees in our country is very good. The game that you might not win because of the same referee, he can referee a top game against other opponents,” said Mngqithi.

"So, I don't want to even waste time on that. I don't think it's at a quality or competency level. I think it might have other influences in the game but not necessarily the competency - I think the referee are competent enough.