Select referees who will handle the ‘Battle of Zimbabwe’: Zenzo Moyo

Ex-Highlanders FC striker Zenzo Moyo has pleaded with the ZIFA referee’s committee to select ‘suitable’ referees who will be able to handle the “Battle of Zimbabwe” pitting his former club and Dynamos FC on Sunday.

The intriguing Castle Lager Premier Soccer League matchday 15 encounter is slated for Barbourfields Stadium in Bulawayo at the weekend.

The kickoff time is 3pm.

Moyo’s sentiment comes after previous derby matches featuring the Bulawayo giants, Bosso and their old rivals DeMbare have been marred by a lot of violence.

And owing to the violence which Moyo believes at times is incited by the match officials’ unnecessary mistakes or even biased refereeing, lives have been lost.

Also as a result, others have been left seriously injured while some have opted not to step their foot again into a local football stadia especially when these two most cheered clubs in the land are playing each other in any competition.

The former Warriors forward has called on the referee’s committee’s hierarchy to scrutinize the officials who will be in charge of Sunday’s big game.

“Initially, I might say this derby has now lost its ground a little bit. We used to know that the town set to host the two teams would usually be electric and the signs showed that Bosso and DeMbare are playing that weekend,” Moyo said.

“But thats a story for another day, at the moment I think the biggest thing which is supposed to be done is those that are responsible of selecting referees for the Battle of Zimbabwe derby are supposed to select referees who will be able to be in charge and handle the match well.

“I believe nowadays teams are almost average and they play almost similar type of football, so the task goes to the referees who need not to be biased when making some decisions.

“They must avoid being biased towards any team or to themselves to decide the winner of the match though at the end of the day football is about winning but I insist that it has to be fairly won.

“There are a lot of things to take into consideration when a referee is biased or makes unnecessary mistakes these include the people’s lives that will be at stake owing to the official’s decisions.”

Furthermore, the former Soccer Star of the Year urged the current crop of referees to imitate those of the yesteryear.

Moyo went on to give reference of the retired Felix Tangawarima who is regarded by some as one of the best referees to have ever emerged in Zimbabwe while others argue it.

“These referees must learn from their seniors who officiated in the previous years before they retired.

“I mean the likes of Felix Tangawarima, Mukuna and Khumalo, they knew how to handle matches their refereeing was not that questionable as of nowadays.”

Of late, there has been a lot of concerns about the standard of refereeing in the country.

Coaches have publicly complained a lot in most post match media press briefings.

The latest gaffers to express their concerns are the Ngezi Platinum Stars head coach Benjani Mwaruwaru and the newly appointed Bulawayo City’s Farai Tawachera.

The former was disgruntled when his side drew 1-1 with Black Rhinos while the latter dismissed and questioned the referee’s decision to give DeMbare a penalty which nearly gave them the winner in the match that eventually ended in a 1-1 draw.