Local referee makes AFCON history
Mqondisi Dube | Tuesday December 9, 2014 12:18
However, in a bittersweet situation, top referee Joshua Bondo, largely considered a certainty, failed to make the final 30.
The country has never had a referee at the finals of the 57-year old competition.
Although the list of the referees going to the West African country is officially not out, Mmegi Sport has been reliably informed that Godisamang will make his debut. The competition runs from January 17 to February 8 in Equatorial Guinea after being switched from Morocco due to the former country’s Ebola fears.
Godisamang has been the assistant referee in most of the international assignments Bondo has handled. He could not immediately comment on his appointment referring queries to his superiors.
Edwin Senai, the referees committee chairperson, was naturally elated with the historic achievement, saying they will endeavour to improve the standard of officiating. “We are excited. It shows that our standard is improving and we will continue with our efforts to take it to the next level.
“I had expected Godisamang to go with Bondo. Bondo had already been given a programme to follow. We do not know what really happened,” Senai said. CAF had initially shortlisted 45 referees, Bondo included, and put them through a programme to monitor their performance. However, reports are that CAF decided to take only 30 whistlemen after the tournament’s venue switch, citing financial constraints.
Bondo had been widely tipped to make the cut, but when the names of the 2015 edition officials were read out, his was missing.