‘Next season is too far!’ Why respected PSL coach wants VAR immediately

South African Minister of Sports Gayton McKenzie confirmed that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will be introduced in the Premier Soccer League from next season.

The Government official has been promising the same for the last couple of years, but this time around, he even confirmed the technology has been paid for. This will surely save officials from making questionable calls in the South African top-flight football.

Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi wishes it could have been introduced even this season.

I expect the right thing

“Next season is too far. The game, I keep saying this thing because the game is becoming too dynamic for the referees,” he told the media.

Every week we will be talking about this topic because we are running one of the biggest leagues in the continent and 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 are going to see mistakes regularly…I have moved away from even blaming them [referees] because I have 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 stand or someone else. I look at the iPad and I say, this was offside. Then I am able to make noise and say, hey, this was offside,” he added.

Next season might be too late

“These things are happening every week. So, if we say next season, I don’t have a problem but the reality is that somebody would have been relegated with wrong decisions and somebody might lose the championship with those decisions,” the former Mamelodi Sundowns coach added.

“Maybe when that happens, that’s when you will say, hey, maybe we should have applied this thing early. Because in my opinion, I know and I am not expecting the PSL to be the one who will run the 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 all football matches, we fight for all football matches to be televised and the stadiums are equipped with VAR.

“And it becomes a precondition for a stadium to be used for a PSL match. And the municipalities can easily finance this. There is a lot of money that goes somewhere else in the municipalities. So, at least it will be doing something,” Mngqithi concluded.