By Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (May 26^th 2021)

Highest Profile Casualty

The axe fell on Christopher Kaunda’s speel in charge of second-placed Zanaco today. Yesterday, a deflated Kaunda faced media after what he described as the worst performance of the season. The 4-0 thrashing by Buildcon cost him his job. Today Zanaco announced that Kaunda had been sent on the dreaded ‘administrative leave’ a thinly disguised euphemism for the sack although technically they remain employees and can be recalled.

The concept is not recognised by FIFA. It appears to be a means of terminating contracts without paying out the remainder of it. Kaunda follows, Mohammed Fathi at NAPSA Stars, accompanied by the technical director Honour Janza, Tenant Chilumba at Forest Rangers, Levy Chabala at Kabwe Warriors and Perry Mutapa at Power Dynamos. It allows a merry-go-round of coaches swapping positions.

Terrible Day

Kaunda can consider himself unfortunate. It followed a terrible day at the office, but that was made worse by questionable officiating. Two of Buildcon’s four goals were questionable – offside – and Zanaco had a perfectly good goal wrongly ruled out for offside. Would Kaunda have been fired if Sensational Zanaco had only lost 2-1? Might they have fought back and nicked a point or more? We’ll never know, but should a coach lose his job under such circumstances?

Consequences

Stuart Baxter, the recently appointed coach of Kaiser Chiefs, summed it up wonderfully.

“When we played the Seychelles in the Seychelles, we had a 185% penalty that we didn’t get,” Baxter explained.

“No-one apologised to me afterwards and said, ‘I’m sorry if you get the sack. We’ll come and pay your wife and your kids’ food for the next two years,’ so I think that refereeing is a vastly difficult job.” (see https://www.kickoff.com/news/articles/south-africa-news/categories/news/afcon-news/afcon-2019-stuart-baxter-on-var-debut-and-referee-apology-for-nigeria-off-side-calls-at-fnb-stadium/658876).

And coaches know that if they criticise the officiating, they will face consequences such as fines and touchline-bans. Is that fair when replays or VAR could resolve the issues?

Something is very wrong in Zambian football. This season the standard of officiating is strange. A close but wrong decision is one thing – it happens, but some decisions defy explanation.

Tenant Chilumba refused to do the normal press conference after the 2-2 draw against Prison Leopards a fortnight ago. It seemed odd until you saw the disallowed goal again. The player was yards onside and the assistant referee’s position was awful. Allow that goal and the dynamic of the match is completely different, so what choice did the coach have?

Either Chilumba refuses to comment, or he risks punishment for highlighting a wrong done to his team. It is an injustice, and it can’t be right that such wrongs are tolerated in silence. He and his players have a right to expect officiating to reach the required standard. It did not. It cost his team dear and ultimately, maybe his job too.

Football deserves better and until the standard reaches the required level, VAR is essential. If not, expect more administrative leaves – some undeserved.