‘They did nothing wrong ...’ Chiefs-Sundowns match officials dodge punishment

FILE - Kaizer Chiefs’ Ashley Du Preez is tackled by Mamelodi Sundowns’ player Khuliso Mudau during their Betway Premiership match. Picture: Itumeleng English / Independent Newspapers

FILE - Kaizer Chiefs’ Ashley Du Preez is tackled by Mamelodi Sundowns’ player Khuliso Mudau during their Betway Premiership match. Picture: Itumeleng English / Independent Newspapers

Published Oct 7, 2024

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The Safa’s head of referees Abdul Ebrahim says there isn’t enough evidence to charge the match officials who did duty in the Betway Premiership between Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns.

Referee Sikhumbuzo Gaza and his assistant came in from some criticism following Sundowns’ 2-1 Betway Premiership win over Chiefs last month.

With the scores deadlocked at 1-1 just after the half-hour mark, Sundowns’ Lucas Ribeiro crossed for Iqraam Rayners who scored the goal. However, replays suggested that Ribeiro may have been offside.

Deep in stoppage time, Chiefs had a goal disallowed after Ignacio Miguel was adjudged to have pushed Musa Lebusa in the box before the goal was scored.

However, from the evidence gathered, Ebrahim said there was nothing wrong with the decisions and that the match officials will also not face any punishment.

“There was nothing wrong with whatever they did. With the footage we have, we couldn’t find any evidence to the contrary,” Ebrahim told KickOff.

“So, maybe SuperSport TV are the ones that need to be able to answer, because if we had cameras behind the goal posts ... I would like to know why they couldn’t provide footage from there.

“That’s the only question I can answer. Beyond that, someone asked me if the referees were cleared, but there was nothing the referees could be cleared on.”

Ebrahim also called on broadcaster SuperSport to provide them with better angles of incidents, especially when it comes to offsides.

— Sahil Ebrahim (@sahil_e_) September 28, 2024

“It was just a Review Committee reviewing incidents, and according to the review, they never found anything wrong with the footage they had,” Ebrahim said.

“That’s for both incidents. With the one [Chiefs equaliser that was overturned], there was a possible push on the Sundowns defender. From the video material we have, it’s not clear ... so we go with on-field decision.

“The same with the possible offside. If SuperSport can provide is with better angles, then we can say we have an offside situation.”

@JohnGoliath82