Referee was not wrong – Mufeti
Namibia Football Association (NFA) referees' technical instructor/assessor, Arvo Mufeti, has responded to an article written about the contentious Tigers and Young African match that took place last weekend.
Mufeti claims that the events did not unfold as published and that Young African, who lost 0-1, were not robbed off a penalty.
The article was written by Nampa and published in Namibian Sun on Monday under the headline 'Chaos mars Tigers victory over Young African'. It was reported the referee denied Young African a clear penalty kick in the last minute of the match and that “everyone was expecting the referee to award a penalty”.
Mufeti said the referee had acted correctly and in accordance with the laws of the game, “and this was further confirmed when the clip was further critically analysed”.
He said handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm. Considerations include the movement of the hand towards the ball and not the ball towards the hand.
Mufeti said the position of the hand does not necessarily mean there is an offence.
“Given the aforementioned, none of the elements of an offence has been met during the incident in question. Therefore, it was not an offence and the correct decision was applied - no penalty!” Mufeti said.
He said the referee's decision should be respected by everyone, when commenting about players and team officials running onto the field of play to protest.
“The team captain has no special status or privileges, but rather has the responsibility for the behaviour of his team. So it was an act of misconduct that happened during that match. “This clearly shows how the team officials are in arrears in terms of the knowledge of the laws of the game. As a result they are making comments that are tarnishing the name and image of referees, where correct decisions were applied in accordance with the laws of the game.”
He said it was a false allegation that referees did not receive training this season and that the referee of the Tigers vs Young African clash was from “Wambo location”.
“The course for elite referees was conducted during the first week of October in 2018 in Windhoek. This is a member association of Fifa course conducted by local instructors under the observation of international Instructors sent by Fifa. It was attended by Namibian Fifa and Namibia Premier League referees and they went through fitness tests and new amendments to the laws of the game 2018/19.
“The referee of that match was Willem Haitembu who is from Nkurenkuru, Kavango West. The other match officials were from the Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions. None of the match officials are from Windhoek.
“It is very regrettable that there are people who go to the media without facts and the media goes ahead to print the news without verifying the allegations with the relevant authorities. All these clarifications can be proved beyond any reasonable doubt,” Mufeti added.
Staff Reporter
Mufeti claims that the events did not unfold as published and that Young African, who lost 0-1, were not robbed off a penalty.
The article was written by Nampa and published in Namibian Sun on Monday under the headline 'Chaos mars Tigers victory over Young African'. It was reported the referee denied Young African a clear penalty kick in the last minute of the match and that “everyone was expecting the referee to award a penalty”.
Mufeti said the referee had acted correctly and in accordance with the laws of the game, “and this was further confirmed when the clip was further critically analysed”.
He said handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm. Considerations include the movement of the hand towards the ball and not the ball towards the hand.
Mufeti said the position of the hand does not necessarily mean there is an offence.
“Given the aforementioned, none of the elements of an offence has been met during the incident in question. Therefore, it was not an offence and the correct decision was applied - no penalty!” Mufeti said.
He said the referee's decision should be respected by everyone, when commenting about players and team officials running onto the field of play to protest.
“The team captain has no special status or privileges, but rather has the responsibility for the behaviour of his team. So it was an act of misconduct that happened during that match. “This clearly shows how the team officials are in arrears in terms of the knowledge of the laws of the game. As a result they are making comments that are tarnishing the name and image of referees, where correct decisions were applied in accordance with the laws of the game.”
He said it was a false allegation that referees did not receive training this season and that the referee of the Tigers vs Young African clash was from “Wambo location”.
“The course for elite referees was conducted during the first week of October in 2018 in Windhoek. This is a member association of Fifa course conducted by local instructors under the observation of international Instructors sent by Fifa. It was attended by Namibian Fifa and Namibia Premier League referees and they went through fitness tests and new amendments to the laws of the game 2018/19.
“The referee of that match was Willem Haitembu who is from Nkurenkuru, Kavango West. The other match officials were from the Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions. None of the match officials are from Windhoek.
“It is very regrettable that there are people who go to the media without facts and the media goes ahead to print the news without verifying the allegations with the relevant authorities. All these clarifications can be proved beyond any reasonable doubt,” Mufeti added.
Staff Reporter
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