LOCAL referees have not been paid for months, a situation that has been blamed for poor standards of officiating seen at some Premier Soccer League games, B-Metro Sport has been briefed.
Traditionally, clubs are responsible for paying referees,
but recently the PSL instructed teams to stop paying match officials directly.
The money is now handed over to the PSL, who in turn are
supposed to disburse the funds to match officials.
But two match officials painted a gloomy picture at the state of affairs they find themselves in.
“The PSL owes us a lot of money for games that we
officiated dating back months ago.
“We have no idea when the money will be released but what
is disheartening is that the local currency is fast losing value and the money
will be worth less when we do finally get paid,” said a referee speaking on
condition of anonymity.
Another referee said they were forced to use their own
resources to travel for matches, sometimes as far as Kariba.
Former referee Ruzive Ruzive weighed in saying non-payment
of match officials is contributing to the declining standards of officiating.
Ruzive said referees were owed money from the matches they
officiated during the Chibuku Super Cup last year.
“Referees are owed money from last year when football was
played during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic when we were still doing
Chibuku Super Cup matches,” Ruzive said.
“The referees are not being paid, so how do you expect to
have results from somebody who is not being paid but are supposed to be
training,” quizzed Ruzive, who is now a match assessor.
He queried how match officials were expected to be on top
of their game when they did not even receive transport money for travel for
games.
Ruzive said the PSL stopped clubs from paying referees
directly and mandated them to channel the payments through the PSL secretariat
but since last year, the money had not been remitted to the referees.
“When you go, say to ZPC Kariba, and you come back without
even your transport money, how do you expect the referee to feel?”
The PSL in a statement released on Tuesday partly blamed
the referees for the hooliganism at Mandava Stadium which caused the
abandonment of the clash between FC Platinum and after a section of Highlanders
fans invaded the pitch protesting against a penalty decision awarded to the
hosts.
PSL spokesperson Kudzai Bare was not available for comment. B Metro
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