By Batsirai Sango.
The last couple of years has seen the continent’s most loved sport growing in leaps and bounds, this largely made possible by the wise and capable stewardship of Dr. Patrice Motsepe the Caf supremo and his lieutenants.
The continent’s football mother body has been relentless with the development agenda with so many positives to pick from ever since the Caf supremo Dr. Motsepe took charge of the administration of African football.
The recent African Cup of Nations hosted in the Ivory Coast can be one to point out to where we saw the use of modern technology in aiding the development of the game with the use of the Video Assistant Referee.
Over the years football fans across the continent have cried foul over on field decisions made by match officials with the limited option provided by optical account from when it happened.
The Video Assistant Referee has revolutionized the game with match officials being equipped with a second eye from which they can and could consult in order to give a balanced decision.
Had VAR been available at Mexico 1986, one wonders what would have happened to Diego Armando Maradona and the famous “Hand of God”
The semifinal match involving bronze medalists South Africa and eventual runners up Nigeria can be one where the technology was used to great effect, with Nigeria having scored what they thought was the winner the match official was advised to consult VAR.
From the consultation Nigeria’s goal was ruled out as they had been a foul committed in the build up against a Bafana player in the Super Eagles’ box which warranted a caution and a penalty.
South Africa scored from the subsequent penalty forcing the match to go penalties with Sky sports football pundits Gary Neville and others commending the unprecedented manner in which VAR was being used at the tournament to improve fairness and how English football match official should copy from that as well.
Most recently the call for more of that technology has been louder with the call for Caf to bring about goal line technology which was incorporated into the game in the aftermath of the 2010 FIFA world cup were no goal decisions were given in incidences where the ball had crossed the line.
For the continent it’s hard to forget the match involving Ghana and Uruguay where the ball crossed the line with Luis Suarez being the villain that brought it back into play with his hands, getting a red card and Ghana getting a penalty for a goal that was.
I would not want to talk of the subsequent penalty as it invokes sad memories.
Goal line technology once again came in to address such discrepancies in the game that in most cases adversely influenced the outcome of games.
The recent Caf champions league quarter final match involving Tshwane giants Mamelodi Sundowns and Young African has been the topical issue around African football circles with the football community hugely divided as to what was the right call.
With the match deadlock at nil all Stephane Aziz the Yanga dangerman unleashed a thunderbolt that had Ronwen Williams beaten all systems out, heating the inside of the upright post coming down and appeared to have crossed the line with the match official giving a no goal decision.
Without goal line technology there was and still is no telling to what the right decision was or would have been with only one angle version available to see the strike from. With more than a decade after the 2010 world cup where you had more of such scenarios the time is now to implement the technology to bring integrity and fairness in Caf’s flagship cup competitions.
The blame can lie with previous administrations for not having done enough to ensure the implementation of the technology, but with the growth of the game and continued surge in interest with Caf competitions the time is now to make a drastic decision in the best interest of the game.
Controversies are not in the best interest of the game with options of technology available to us to use in ensuring we don’t witness what happened in the match involving Mamelodi Sundowns and Young Africans.
