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Mamelodi Sundowns have questioned the appointment of referee Victor Gomes for their games and lodged a complaint against the match official.
In the club’s submission to Safa, it said they were not happy with Gomes’ conduct in their Nedbank Cup game against National First Division side Highlands Park.
They were surprised to see Gomes officiating at their midweek league game against Bloemfontein Celtic.
Downs were irked when Gomes sent off assistant coach Rhulani Mokoena.
Sundowns chief executive Sizwe Nzimande said they had written a letter to Safa but were still waiting for a response.
“We can’t say anything now, as we have not heard from Safa,” said Nzimande.
On Wednesday, a visibly upset Mokoena wanted to confront Gomes after their game against Celtic, as he was adamant he had done nothing wrong. However, he was persuaded not to do so by Nzimande, who pulled him aside.
Downs coach Pitso Mosimane alleged that Gomes admitted to him that he had made a mistake when he sent off Mokoena.
“He told me he made a mistake – you can quote me on that,” said Mosimane.
“We were all surprised by the sending off, especially when he said Rhulani swore at him, but the fourth official [Bafana Mosia] said he heard nothing of that sort. How could Gomes hear from where he was, particularly in that noise, but Mosia, who was close to the bench, did not hear?”
Safa’s chairperson on its appointment committee, Ari Soldatos, said he was not aware of the complaint.
“It’s the first time I hear about this. It has not been brought to my attention as yet. But it doesn’t mean I would not have considered him for the game if I knew, but maybe would have applied my mind more. As much as we don’t want to appoint officials to one club for consecutive matches, we don’t have a big pool because of the suspension of some of our senior guys.
“I must say that I am happy with the job the other officials are doing,” said Soldatos.
. Meanwhile, assistant referee Zakhele Siwela could officiate at this year’s Rio Olympic Games. He has been invited to the Confederation of African Football workshop in Morocco in May to select officials for Rio.
Safa’s head of referees, Peter Sejake, said he was hopeful that Siwela would make the cut.
