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Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has questioned how much is being done to help local referees to up their officiating standards.
Mokwena felt Sundowns were shortchanged by referees, insinuating that both the goals scored by Moroka Swallows in their 2-2 DStv Premiership game at the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto on Monday night were offside.
Downs scored in each half via Teboho Mokoena and Marcel Allende but Swallows came back to force the share the of the spoils, courtesy of second half goals by Augustine Mahlonoko and Gabadinho Mhango.
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Despite the stalemate, Sundowns still command a 14-point lead over second placed Stellenbosch FC on the Premiership table.
However, Mokwena was livid, accusing the match official of ensuring that the defending league champions retuned from Soweto with an odd point.
Mokwena observed: "He [Chavani] went to the assistant referee but he was talking to somebody [else]. Who was he talking to, VAR [the video assistant referee? [Do] we have VAR all off a sudden in South Africa?
The coach pointed at the dwindling number of South African match officials at major international tournaments as a reflection of the state of refereeing in the PSL.
Mokwena told the post-match conference in Dobsonville:
Mokwena said he felt sorry for bottom-placed teams threatened by relegation.
On what must happen to improve the standard of refereeing, Mokwena said: "Before the season starts, there’s test that referees have to undergo. And then you hear some have failed the test and then few weeks later, you see him officiating a game.
He added:
"Just as much as we want players internationally and all of that, who [the match officials] is going to the World Cup? For many years we had [assistant referee] Zakhele Siwela always representing us. [Most recently] we have [referee Abongile] Tom [but] who else is coming through?
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The Sundowns coach warned that poor officiating would create a wrong image and reputation of South African football if nothing was done to remedy the situation.
Meanwhile, Chavani and Muvhali are among a group of South African match officials on the Fifa panel but are rarely appointed for major continental and global tournaments.
