Time For Tanzanian Referees To Either Shape Up Or Ship Out

                         

More than thirteen years have passed since the last time a Tanzanian referee officiated an AFCON tournament match. The legengadary Omar Abdikadir officiated in the 1998 AFCON edition in Burkina Faso. Apparently, Abdikadir blundered so much that Tanzanian referees have since never been considered to officiate in subsequent CAF tournaments. Perhaps that earned our referees a biased stigma but the current lot of local referees does not inspire confidence of doing a better job.

Football officials were once again in the spotlight during Saturday’s memorable Community Shield cup tie between Azam and Young Africans. Though there was no official complaint raised one could see both coaches exasperated with every poor call from the match officials. Stewart Hall, the Azam tactician, in particular cut a frustrating figure in the touch line as he tried to grasp with the numerous bad calls from the officials. 

During the first half, the match was stopped for more than six minutes as Yanga goalkeeper, Ally Mustapha was being treated by medical attendants on the field. Surprisingly, as the first half drew to a close, the fourth official signaled that at least four minutes of stoppage time would be played. Many expected the centre official, Oden Mbaga to at least allow play for five minutes to compensate for time lost while Mustapha was being given medical attention. To the dismay of many, Oden Mbaga blew his whistle for half-time after barely four minutes of additional time. Two minutes might not be enough reason to crucify the referee but it is this kind of little mistakes that hinders our referees’ progress in officiating big matches in the international stage. Who is going to trust our officials with big matches if they cannot even observe the correct time?

Another incident that highlighted our football officials’ ineptitude came in the 70^th minute involving Azam striker,John Bocco and Young Africans Rwandan import defender, Mbuyu Twitte. The Rwandan import made a cynical sliding tackle on Bocco that left the striker reeling in pain.  Twitte, a cheeky defender, got the ball cleanly but cynically booted Bocco on the shin forcing him to be substituted. Again to the dismay of many, Twitte’s cynical tackle went unpunished as Bocco dropped out of the game. The match official did not even bother to award a free kick, it was game on as if nothing had happened.

For the first time many local premier league matches would be beamed live to a wider audience after the signing of a deal between Azam Tv and Tanzania Premier league committee.  State of the art outside broadcasting vehicle (OB) will be used to cover games. These are 12-camera supported OBs that can fully record every angle and thus will expose our officials who have been blamed for making poor calls. With the introduction of such state of the art technology, more and more of our poor referees will be on the spotlight. It is time they either shape up or ship out.