{"id":2725,"date":"2021-07-17T12:15:36","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T11:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=2725"},"modified":"2021-07-17T16:28:20","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T15:28:20","slug":"administrative-leave-in-the-absence-of-var","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2021\/07\/17\/administrative-leave-in-the-absence-of-var\/","title":{"rendered":"Administrative Leave in the Absence of VAR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (May 26th <\/sup>2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highest Profile Casualty<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The axe fell on Christopher Kaunda\u2019s 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 \u2018administrative leave\u2019 a thinly disguised euphemism for the sack although technically they remain employees and can be recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Terrible Day<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Kaunda can consider himself unfortunate. It followed a terrible day at the office, but that was made worse by questionable officiating. Two of Buildcon\u2019s four goals were questionable \u2013 offside \u2013 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\u2019ll never know, but should a coach lose his job under such circumstances?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Consequences<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stuart Baxter, the recently appointed coach of Kaiser Chiefs, summed it up wonderfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we played the Seychelles in the Seychelles, we had a 185% penalty that we didn\u2019t get,\u201d Baxter explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo-one apologised to me afterwards and said, \u2018I\u2019m sorry if you get the sack. We\u2019ll come and pay your wife and your kids\u2019 food for the next two years,\u2019 so I think that refereeing is a vastly difficult job.\u201d (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<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something is very wrong in Zambian football. This season the standard of officiating is strange. A close but wrong decision is one thing \u2013 it happens, but some decisions defy explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s position was awful. Allow that goal and the dynamic of the match is completely different, so what choice did the coach have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either Chilumba refuses to comment, or he risks punishment for highlighting a wrong done to his team. It is an injustice, and it can\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football deserves better and until the standard reaches the required level, VAR is essential. If not, expect more administrative leaves \u2013 some undeserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (May 26th 2021) Highest Profile Casualty The axe fell on Christopher Kaunda\u2019s speel in charge of second-placed Zanaco today. Yesterday, [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,14,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2726,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725\/revisions\/2726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}