Four referees fail fitness tests
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Friday August 2, 2019 12:36
The said referees were part of the referees’ course, which has been running since Sunday and ended yesterday. Rasetshoga said despite the four referees failing the test, there are always measures in place to ensure that they regain their full fitness.
Although he declined to reveal the names of the affected referees because a report will first have to be submitted to the higher authorities, he did mention that there are four.
He said three of them are assistant referees while the other is a middleman. Reports have, however, indicated that one of the referees affected is Tirelo Mositwane who has been doing relatively well since he first broke into the scene. Mositwane has been following in the footsteps of renowned FIFA referee, Joshua Bondo.
One of the promising assistant referees, Kitso Sibanda is also said to have failed the physical test, which would then require them to follow a certain programme so that they return to full fitness.
“There are measures in place for such occurrences. A training programme is usually set up for those affected and it takes up to six weeks and they get tested again. And if we feel that they are ready before then, we can set up another test and once they pass it, they return to the field,” Rasetshoga said.
He said there is no need to think of the worst since the test is the same as for players. He said such is the case usually when the referees have just come out of the break like players.
Rasetshoga also said such kind of courses are important so that referees can be kept abreast of any changes to FIFA rules. He said such changes have to be clarified so that it does not create confusion when it comes to interpretation.
He said they have since promoted 10 referees who have now joined the elites. He said the promoted referees were part of the course.
“We also included four women referees to be part of the course. The said referees are officiating at the national leagues because we do not want women referees to be left behind,” he said.
FIFA instructors, Carlos Hendriques who specialises in technical training and Bento Navesse, who deals with the physical aspect of the game, conducted the course.