Kgatleng refs end boycott

BOITUMELO KHUTSAFALO
Staff Writer | Tuesday May 14, 2013 00:00

Lower Division leagues in the Kgatleng region will resume this weekend following a fruitful meeting held on Tuesday by both the regional referees and the Kgatleng Regional Football Association committee. The meeting followed a boycott by regional referees last week in protest over the suspension of one of the referees by the regional association.

The referee, Mpho Tau, was apparently suspended for creating a facebook page with a name, Kgatleng Regional Football Association. This was confirmed by the committee spokesperson, Tshwarelo Motsomi who pointed out that the referee created it long before the committee did. 'When the new committee arrived, we decided to create the page, but realised that there was already a page with that name. We asked him to close it so that we can open a new one, which will be run by the regional association and he was reluctant to do so,' he said.

The regional committee subsequently suspended Tau last year following his refusal to close the page. They then informed the Kgatleng Region Referees Association who were 'delaying in dealing with the matter'.The referees' body reinstated Tau last month, but were told to remove him from the list of referees who were to officiate in the league matches since he was suspended. Last Friday, the referees resolved to boycott the games until the issue of one of their own was settled. 'We had no choice but to cancel last weekend's matches because we received their (referees) letter on Friday while the games were to be played on Saturday and Sunday,' Motsomi said.he two committees decided to meet on Tuesday where the issue was discussed at length. The page has since been closed.

The two committees agreed that the said referee, Tau be reinstated and the matches are expected to resume this weekend. The chairperson of the regional referees committee, Thebe Kwapa confirmed to Mmegi Sport that they had a fruitful meeting and have agreed to officiate this weekend.