The SAFA referee review committee has made an official decision on PSL referee Jelly Chavani's controversial awarding of a goal by Moroka Swallows striker Gabadinho Mhango against Mamelodi Sundowns.
Chavani awarded Swallows an equaliser scored by Mhango against Sundowns to make it 2-2 in the dying minutes of the DStv Premiership match, despite the assistant referee flagging for offside, which was argued to be an incorrect decision by some referee experts.
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Former referees Dr Errol Sweeney and Victor Hlungwani argued, using their wealth of experience and the interpretation of the offside law, that the goal scored by the former Orlando Pirates striker should not have stood, as he gained an advantage by being in an offside position after defender Mosa Lebusa attempted to clear the ball, which found him in an offside position.
The SAFA referees' review committee sat on the matter and it appeared Chavani was going to face suspension, based on the expert opinion by Hlungwani and Sweeney.
However, SAFA referee committee Chairperson Victor Gomes has revealed that they found that Chavani made the right decision.
"The review committee has sat down on that specific (incident) and deemed that the referee was correct on the night," Gomes said on 947's MSW.
Gomes went on to stress that there was nothing untoward regarding the delay in communication between the referees, after the accusations that Chavani was speaking to someone who had the benefit of TV replays.
"The right decision was made and after consulting... and I'm actually very proud of the way things were handled on that day," the former PSL and FIFA referee continued.
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"He went and stood next to the assistant referee and they were talking and you can clearly see that the fourth official was also involved. It's teamwork. Even the assistant on the far side is entitled to talk," he added.
The SAFA referee committee has been under pressure from PSL coaches, who have slammed the standard of officiating in the DStv Premiership.
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