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The Chairman of the National Referees Committee of the South African Football Association (SAFA), Kirsten Nematendani, today released the list of officials for the 2008/2008 soccer season. The panel lists comprise of international FIFA & CAF, Premier League and the First Division - which is known as the Supplementary Panel.

“On behalf of SAFA, I'm happy to present to you the referees' panel that will handle the new season. The various panels were finalised based on the performance of each individual last season and were therefore rated accordingly. We took into consideration also passes and failures in the fitness tests up to the one we held last week. The elite panel is recognition of the achievements and status of those in it. But to be there, you must have worked for it. So, each referee must perform consistently well and at a high standard. It is also this panel that feeds FIFA callups and the Premier League. Those who are in the FIFA panel are assessed and approved by the world body itself,” says Nematendani.

He then congratulated all those who are in the new panel and wished them well in the work ahead with a caution that they must all remember that a lot of money is invested on soccer and therefore errors must be near non-existent. Nematendani also expressed his disappointment over the referees who failed the SAFA National Fitness Tests last week.

“This is unacceptable. We have had 13 referees who failed the tests, with three of them from the Premier League panel. The majority of the failures are Assistant Referees. Those who were in the Elite Panel have already been demoted to the First Division panel, where they will only work once they have passed the next Fitness Tests which will be held within the next 14 days. Should they pass it, they will have to first serve three months in this Supplementary Panel before they can be re-considered for the Premier League panel.

“We are taking no chances and doing no-one any favour. Supplementary Panels both for Referees and Assistant Referees also serve as a pool for the Premier League in cases of short notice replacements,” says the Chairman of the National Referees.

Nematendani also congratulated referees, Jerome Damon (middleman) and Enock Molefe (assistant ref), who have been appointed by FIFA to handle this Thursday's opening Beijing 2008 Olympic Games match between defending champions, Australia and Serbia in Shanghai at 5pm (Chinese time).

Supplementary Assistant Referees Panel