'Next season is too far' - Manqoba Mngqithi on VAR implementation | OneFootball

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Mngqithi calling for urgent VAR implementation

Photo: Golden Arrows @ Facebook

Golden Arrows head coach Manqoba Mngqithi reckons next season is too far for the mooted implementation of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the PSL.

This comes after Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie confirmed that National Treasury has paid the money for the technology, with the ball now in the South African Football Association's (SAFA) court to implement.

What's more, Arrows suffered a league defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns on Wednesday, in a match that was marred by dubious officiating, much to the reiteration of VAR stance from Mngqithi, who believes it should be implemented as soon as possible.

“Next season is too far. The game is becoming too dynamic for the referees. Today [Wednesday] I even saw a sniff of a VAR that I don't know, because the truth is I think the linesman raises the flag if there's an offside and I did not see the flag, but I saw the negotiations [with the referee] and then there's no offside,” he said.

"And I'm not saying it was offside or not offside, but I expect the right thing to happen in a football match, and every week we'll be talking about this topic because we are running one of the biggest leagues in the continent. Thus, we should understand the investment that is put on these clubs, the investment that is put in training should be worth accepting the result. and saying at least the VAR checked and they made a mistake

"But when you're going to see mistakes regularly, because I've moved away from blaming the referees now because I've realised they are human beings and most of the time the complaints we have as coaches, as club administrators, are based on the second opinion that we have from the stands or somewhere else because I look at the iPad and I see this was offside, then I'm able to make noise and say this was offside. But the reality is when it happens first [time] sometimes you don't see it.

The KZN-born mentor made an honest admission that he did not see Khuliso Mudau's handball that earned his side a penalty, and called on the respective municipalities to fund VAR implementation.

“The hand ball of Mudau I would not say it was a handball or not, I did not see it, I'd be lying if I say I saw it and these things are happening every week. So, if we say next season, I don't have a problem, but the reality is somebody would have been relegated with wrong decisions and somebody might lose the championship with those decision,” Mngqithi added.

"Maybe when that happens that's when we'll say maybe we should have applied this thing earlier and I'm not expecting the PSL to be the one who run that show. Most clubs in South Africa don't own stadiums.

"The stadiums are owned by the municipalities, and if the municipalities want football to go to their cities, they should pay for the VAR in those stadiums so that it's easier to make sure that we fight for all football matches to be televised and the stadiums are equipped with VAR and it becomes a pre-condition for a stadium to be used for a PSL match. And the municipalities can easily finance this, there's a lot of money that goes somewhere else in the municipalities, so at least it will be doing something.