Kalombo tips refs on improved education

Malawi soccer referees will continue being ignored during high-profile international events if they do not enhance their education, an expert has said.

Former Fifa and CAF elite referee Bester Kalombo made the statement on Wednesday in reaction to news that no Malawian referee is included on the list of 44 officials who will officiate at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals in Equatorial Guinea between January 17 and February 8.

According to Kalombo, who retired as CAF refereeing manager after a seven-year tenure in 2012, only those with a Class A licence are considered for such big events, but it is sad that none of the country’s current crop of male referees has such a badge.

“People tend not to like my statement that education levels of most of our current referees are low. However, it is high time we started thinking about this seriously. Maybe we should change our recruitment system to only accommodate those with Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) and above.

“We should also embrace the drilling of referees from the grass roots as is the case with the junior footballers and deliberately take referees’ trainings to our colleges where students will be encouraged to join the profession,” said Kalombo.

Last year, Malawian referees also missed on a list of 170 who officiated in Afcon qualifiers.

Since Moffat Champiti retired in 2012, after officiating the 2012 Afcon co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, Malawi has not produced a Class A referee. The only highly qualified referee the country has at present is Dennis Ngulube, who has a Class B licence.

National Football Referees Committee (NFRC) chairperson Patrick Kapanga refused to comment on the matter, referring the issue to Football Association of Malawi’s (FAM) referees manager Maxwell Mtonga.

Mtonga concurred with Kalombo that local referees need to be ambitious and work hard to improve their education status.