Referees come under siege

The sixth round of the Namibia Premier League (NPL) was overshadowed by the referees’ performances rather than the actual playing action over the weekend. In the first instance, Friday’s match between African Stars and Civics at the Sam Nujoma Stadium had to be delayed by close to an hour as the officials had to wait for one of the assistant referees – David Shaanika - to arrive from Tsandi in the Omusati Region. This delay made the fans restless and one pundit reflected that assigning a match official based outside of Windhoek for a Friday game defies logic. “It is not good for a match official to be assigned for a Friday night game in Windhoek if he is based outside the capital because this will affect his performance as he would have travelled a long distance,” the pundit stated irritably. Despite the delay, African Stars emerged victorious thanks to two headed goals from Joslin Kamatuka and the towering Elvis Tjivasera - either side of an equalising goal by Quinton Kuruseb – for a 2-1 win. The result saw the ‘Samba Boys’ picking up their third win of the season and they now have 10 points. Second instance Another match at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday saw the referees again coming under siege as Orlando Pirates’ coach Ali Akan had a go at the officials after his team’s 0-0 draw with log leaders Tigers. “For the last few games, I have never said anything about referees but today [Saturday], I don’t know what was happening,” the coach said after Saturday’s game. According to the coach, the referee - Andreas Shipanga - made too many dubious calls. “Every small touch and a free kick was awarded with 80% of them coming against us. This referee is weak and un-teachable... How many times must we repeat [the fact] that referees need to have Grade 12?” he complained. Although Tigers’ coach Bobby Samaria agreed the referee’s performance did affect the game, he had a slightly different view. “Truth be told, the ref did not do a lot of justice to the game but he was also not too unfair. This was a big game and the nerves were high and once [a referee] makes one mistake, everyone is top of you... So all in all, I think he did a good job as there were no red cards in the game,” he said after the match. As it is, this round of the NPL will go down as one of the most controversial as on Wednesday, Ramblers felt aggrieved after the match officials allowed a goal scored by Willy Stephanus to stand. According to Ramblers the ball had not crossed the line and the goal should have been disallowed. Elsewhere, there were good wins for Tura Magic, who triumphed 1-0 over Blue Waters, and Blue Boys, who were 3-2 victors over Eleven Arrows in Walvis Bay. The wins boosted the winners’ bid to be among the top sides in the league but piled misery on their opponents, who remain in the bottom four of the NPL. Arrows, especially, appear to be in a perilous situation as the latest loss means that the club has now been defeated five times this season; more than bottom-of- the-log Rundu Chiefs, who held United Stars to a 0-0 draw in the Rundu derby. The next round of fixtures, though, offers a chance for attention to return to the football action, with Tigers, who now have 16 points, due to meet Black Africa in a top-of-the-table clash.