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HARD ACT TO FOLLOW . . . Felix Tangawarima’s shoes have so far proven too big for local referees who will once again be missing in action at the African Cup of Nations

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
AS has become the norm over the last eight years, Zimbabwe’s referees will once again be conspicuous by their absence from the 2017 African Cup of Nations finals with the Confederation of African Football overlooking the local match officials for the continental soccer showpiece. In yet another serious indication of how far the refereeing standards have taken a dip in the country, there will be no centre referee or assistants from Zimbabwe when the Nations Cup takes place in Gabon from January 14 to February 5.

Not even the newly-crowned Castle Lager Premiership Referee of the Year Ruzive Ruzive and his runners-up — Thomas Kusosa and Salani Ncube — could make the grade despite being voted the best performers on the domestic front.

Instead Ruzive and his colleagues will be armchair viewers as their counterparts from other countries take charge of the matches at the Nations Cup where the Warriors who will be in Group B, will be making their third appearance.

Zimbabwe has only one referee — Nomore Musundire — chosen for the upcoming COSAFA Under-20 Championships in South Africa while the pair of Brighton Chimene and Faith Mloyi will handle games in the men’s and women’s categories at the African Sports Region 5 Games in Angola.

But it is the absence of Zimbabwean referees from a fifth successive Nations tournament that is now a worrying trend and an indictment on the local officials’ pedigree on the international stage.

In fact not since the now retired Kenny Marange at the 2008 Nations Cup has Zimbabwe had a referee being appointed to officiate at the continental soccer show-piece. Marange had followed in the footsteps of the legendary Felix Tangawarima and Brighton Mudzamiri who had the privilege of not only handling matches at the Nations Cup but also took charge of games at FIFA Confederations Cup, the Olympic Games, Euro Under-21 Championships and the World Cup respectively.

ZIFA Referees Committee vice-chairman Gladmore Muzambi yesterday admitted that the absence of local officials on the bigger stage was cause for concern for the association.

Muzambi, however, said his committee was working hard on developing a new breed of referees by grooming young officials.

The former CAF referee said it was imperative that Zimbabwean referees secure places on the CAF Elite A category in order for them to be picked for such tournaments like the Nations Cup.

“We don’t have anybody on the Elite A category but we have Norman Matemera on the B category and in the Women we have Claris Simango on the Elite A panel hence she has handled games at the Women African Women Nations Cup.

“It is obviously a worrisome factor for us given that we have previously had representation at the level of the AFCON tournament. “But we draw some comfort from the COSAFA and the Region 5 games where our referees have got some appointments.

“One can also note that our Referee of the Year is not on any of those appointments and this is because Ruzive is not on the FIFA panel and automatically does not qualify. But in terms of the PSL for which he won an award, he did very well and scored a lot of high marks from the match assessors.

“As ZIFA Referees Committee we are working hard to have our referees back there (at AFCON) and I am just coming from a workshop of match commissioners called Standards Control Unit which is in line with our thrust to develop referees from lower levels who are young and can raise the Zimbabwe flag for some time.

“Back then the system allowed for referees development but in recent years it has not been quite happening that way and that is what we are trying to revive,’’ Muzambi said.

Tangawarima, who has proven a hard act to follow, is now a COSAFA referees’ manager and a full-time FIFA and CAF instructor based at the world soccer governing body’s Eastern and Southern African development office in Botswana.

The Seven-time Referee of the Year has since Saturday been holding a workshop in Rustenburg to prepare Musundire and other referees on the COSAFA Under-20 Championships panel before flying out to Angola to do a similar job for those who will handle the Region 5 games.

COSAFA have also been in such competitions like the Under-20 championships to groom referees.

In the two workshops which Tangawarima is conducting the programmes will include practical sessions every morning and then analysis of match situations video clips in the afternoon.

“The clips will include offside situations, penalty area incidents, tactical fouls and reading of the game.

“The recent changes in the denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity . . . where a player denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by a deliberate handball offence the player is sent off wherever the offence occurs. Where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offending player is cautioned unless:

• The offence is holding, pulling or pushing or

• The offending player does not attempt to play the ball or there is no possibility for the player making the challenge to play the ball or

• The offence is one which is punishable by a red card wherever it occurs on the field of play (e.g. serious foul play, violent conduct etc).

“In all the above circumstances the player is sent off’’.

Meanwhile, the local refereeing fraternity was in mourning last week following the death of former official Benias Rwizi, who was also a cousin brother to Tangawarima.

Rwizi who died last Thursday after a battle with prostate cancer and was buried in Chivhu on Saturday handled matches in the then ZIFA Super League in the ‘80s before retiring to become a local referees instructor and match assessor. Muzambi in paying tribute to Rwizi also credited him with grooming a number of top referees to emerge from Manicaland who include Masimba Chihowa, Rusina Majo, Brighton Chimene and Marange.

“We are very sorry about him and we will certainly miss him. Rwizi had a professional approach to football and he groomed a lot of referees, he was dedicated to developing our football,’’ Muzambi said.