Recently, football referee Ahmed Arajiga has been receiving a lot of praise from football fans and analysts who have dared to name him a football hero after he sent off Young Africans FC (Yanga) central defender Ibrahim Abdallah Hamad, famous as Bacca, during a tense NBC Premier League match against Azam FC at the Azam Complex on Saturday.
The former Zanzibar’s KMKM defender was shown a straight red card by Arajiga after he pulled Azam’s young striker, Nassor Sadouni, to deny him a scoring opportunity in the first half of the first-round fixtures between the two. A few minutes later, the Chamazi Boys scored the match’s solitary goal to hand the defending champions their first defeat this season after a run of eight winning streaks.
Neither Yanga coach Miguel Gamondi nor the club leaders came out and raised concerns about Arajiga’s decision, despite the Jangwani Street boss expressing his frustration about the referee’s inconsistency in his decisions on a similar foul.
“In the first half, when it was still 11 versus 11, we created more chances than them,” said Gamond during a post-match conference with reporters. “Then the referee took this decision, which I find a bit inconsistent. In our game against Simba, [Yanga striker, Prince] Dube faced a similar situation [when pulled by Che Malone Fondo], and only [Che Malone] received a yellow card, but today it is a red card for us.”
The incident occurred only a couple of weeks after another referee, Ramadhan Kayoko, became the centre of post-match discussions about poor refereeing and controversial decisions in the country’s top-flight league.
Kayoko was the centre referee when Yanga took on Simba at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on October 19, 2024. This was their first meeting this season, and Yanga won 1-0, their fourth consecutive victory against their traditional rivals in all competitions.
Complaints
Although the official made several controversial decisions that benefited each of the two teams, Simba fans and leaders pointed fingers at the young referee, alleging that he favoured the Mainland champions.
READ MORE: On Tanzania at the Olympics: The Will to Win is Nothing Without the Will to Prepare
Simba complaints were associated with two incidents involving attacking midfielder Kibu Dennis inside the Yanga penalty area. In the first incident, slow-motion videos show Kibu trying to evade a tackle from Yanga’s left back, Chadrack Boka but falls inside the area after the Congolese defender seems to touch his right leg.
It was unclear contact, and the referee, who was close to the action, decided it was a fair challenge and allowed the play to continue. Once again, KIbu was seen to be brought down by Mudathir Yahya while trying to enter the penalty area, and Kayoko decided the same.
Fans and leaders of Simba raised their voices, asking football authorities to take action against Kayoko.
On the other hand, Yanga also complained about two decisions that were in the same match. They claimed their new signing, Dube, was pulled by Che Malone and denied a scoring opportunity, a foul punished by a marching order. However, the referee decided that the Simba defender was not the last man and only issued him a yellow card.
In the second half, another new signing, Jean Baleke, was seen to be brought down by goalkeeper Moussa Camara, but Kayoko gestured for the play to go on.
These are some of the controversial decisions that dominate post-match analysis and discussions every week. With fans and pundits now able to have a closer look at match actions through the internet, referees are always on hot soup. They are criticised for their lack of concentration or misinterpretation of football rules or accused of doing it internationally to favour some clubs.
Fans post short videos online of the same referees making different errors, which benefit the two soccer giants. This suggests that Simba and Yanga get unfair advantages through referee errors or controversial decisions. The two sides accuse one another of manipulating referees, while other football fans think Simba and Yanga are manipulating the results.
Poor refereeing
But poor refereeing is rampant in both tiers: the Premier League, Championship (the second top tier), and First Division League (FDL), all of which are supervised by the Tanzania Premier League Board (TPLB).
READ MORE: What Explains Tanzanians’ Obsession With Superstition in Football?
After every argument about refereeing, a simple solution is always suggested: a Video Assistant Referee (V.A.R), an assistant referee who assists the centre referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those reviews.
If possible situations warrant further review, V.A.R. asks the centre referee to go to the screen on the side of the pitch to study the reviews and decide.
However, the V.A.R. is criticised as being most effective for factual decisions such as offsides and mistaken identities, but it has not yet helped to solve decisions such as penalties or disciplining of players, and the latter is one of the issues in our football.
V.A.R. can only be used in three situations: to determine goal or no goal when there seems to be an infringement that should have prevented a goal from being awarded, such as a ball going out of play, handball, offside, or other offences; penalty or no when an attacking team commits an offence, the ball went out of play before or incorrectly awarded; and direct red card.
Earlier this year, the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) promised that the hugely expensive technology would be used in some Premier League matches to be played at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium this season.
The federation president, Wallace Karia, told reporters about the decision to use V.A.R. when Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa launched V.A.R. equipment donated by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to the Council of East, Central African Football Association (CECAFA).
CAF wants the machines to be used to train referees from the Cecafa zone.
However, in the last three weeks, Karia reversed the decision. He told reporters that TFF has decided not to use the technology now as it would not be wise to use V.A.R. in some matches, and the plan was shelved till next season.
READ MORE: Manara Accuses Simba SC Chairman Dewji of Phone Spying
The TFF decision echoed stakeholders’ call that the body should do everything possible to ensure that technology is introduced next season, a call that seems close to impossible.
Of course, TFF can manage to bring the V.A.R. next season. But according to football rules, a referee has discretional powers over what happens on the field. The use of V.A.R. would only give him different angles on an incident or more information about it so that he can make an informed decision.
That means it is his duty to interpret the incidents according to the 17 football rules and decide. That is to say, the human factor is still the most important factor in decision-making in officiating football matches. So, technology would not be our total solution to referee errors.
Needed
The first thing we need now is not to bring V.A.R., which I suspect we cannot afford, but to develop competent and experienced referees who can make very few errors without the assistance of technology, as did Gambian referee Gassana. During the Africa Cup of Nations finals (AFCON), he officiated a quarterfinal match for 120 minutes without a call from V.A.R. to review his decisions on the screen projected on the side of the field.
If a referee like Arajiga is hailed as a hero for doing the right thing in an obvious situation—showing a red card for the obvious foul—then we have to acknowledge that our referees’ standards are still low, and we need to improve even before we start thinking about technology.
It is not because of the use of the Internet that fans and stakeholders can see clearly the mistakes that our referees make, but the errors are so obvious that no one complains when they are punished.
READ MORE: Why East Africans Struggle to Find a Breakthrough into European Football Leagues?
Listening to Simba and Yanga’s complaints, one notices that they are the same. Similar complaints are raised by coaches of the other 14 Premier League teams. Dodoma City Council team coach Maxi Mexime shows his frustrations after his team was denied an equalising goal against Kagera Sugar, with the umpires claiming the ball went out of play before the goal was scored.
Having qualified, competent, and experienced referees is not a short-term project unless leaders want to leave a legacy of creating a group of young referees at the cost of standard and quality officiating.
A tailor-made training program to fine-tune our officials would help us understand the root of our referee problems and create training to help reduce poor refereeing and controversies.
While doing it, TFF and TPLB may find that some errors are intentional and hence take short-term measures, while those involving misinterpretation of the rules of the game, lack of match fitness, and inexperience may be dealt with in other ways.
Arajiga’s right decision on Bacca should only wake us up and make us understand that there is much to be done to improve the level of referees. We should reduce those discussions about poor refereeing after every weekend and instead concentrate more on healthy matters for our lovely game.
Angetile Osiah is a veteran journalist and sports pundit based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He’s available at ngetaiku@yahoo.com or on X as @ngetaiku. These are the writer’s own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of The Chanzo. Do you want to publish in this space? Contact our editors at editor@thechanzo.com for further inquiries.
