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FROM HERO TO ZERO…..Dynamos goals scorer Christian Epoupa Ntouba (left) walks off the pitch as referee Arnold Ncube brandishes a red card to him for head butting Highlanders player Peter Muduhwa in a goal mouth melee during the closing stages of yesterday’s Premiership soccer match at Rufaro.-Picture by Memory Mangobe

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
ZIFA Referees Committee vice-chairperson Gladmore Muzambi has shed some light on how they appoint match officials for big matches amid a wave of complaints of bad officiating by Arnold Ncube, who handled the Battle of Zimbabwe, at Rufaro on Sunday. The Masvingo-based referee was overwhelmed by the big game and failed to stamp his authority on the proceedings.

Highlanders were not amused by a penalty they were denied in the second half while Dynamos were also not happy that their star player Christian Epoupa Ntouba was not protected from opposition players which later resulted in him snapping and being sent off after he headbutted Peter Muduhwa towards the end of the match.

And some people were wondering how some referees end up officiating in such high-tempo matches when they lack confidence to handle such games.

Muzambi said going forward, they will choose top performers, who also have a proven good record in high-profile games.

Ncube’s big match this season was a league match between Chicken Inn and Dynamos.

“We use current performance. Those who will be performing well are considered first and Ncube is one of the referees currently performing well at the moment.

“We are going to choose best performers to the best of our knowledge, to handle such matches, and also going by their performance in officiating previous games of the same high-profile nature,” he said.

The former referee said they recently held a high-level FIFA course where the match officials were equipped with more techniques on handling matches.

“The elite referees are coming from a high-level FIFA course, which equipped them on how to handle any situation that happens in a game of football.

“The top class referees were taught how to deal with crucial decisions, for example penalty area incidents, positioning, reading the game and judgment of fouls.

“They were also taught preventive refereeing which deals with reading the game temperament,” he said.

Muzambi did not watch the match between Dynamos and Highlanders as he was out of the country.

“CAPS United registered a complaint with Laston Lita who handled their game against Black Rhinos recently. We are still looking into the issue.

“However, I can assure the nation of a flawless performance in the coming big match, the Harare derby. I can assure you that our referees will be equal to task,” said Muzambi.