Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Rulani Mokwena says investment needs to be made in local coaches before the Premier Soccer League looks to implement Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR).
Mokwena was speaking after their 3-2 win over Royal AM which saw Victor Lestoalo score a late penalty after Rushine De Reuck was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area.
Replays show the ball clearly struck the Bafana Bafana centre-back in the midriff area but Mokwena says the investment is better suited to improving the talented local coaches in the division.
“The issue of regarding VAR. Look I think it can help, it can assist, of course in the initial teething stages you’re going to find a lot of concerns, problems – but that’s only normal. But would I ask for that as a Christmas present?
“I don’t know, I grew up in a family where I had to understand the financial constraints. I had to understand the environment, the purse strings are not as deep as my friends’ next door. When I asked for a skateboard, I got rollerblades, sometimes when I asked for a PlayStation, I got a playboy, you know the cheaper version?
“So of course as much as I think and agree that South African football can benefit greatly from maybe possessing VAR. But I do think in answering that question, maybe we have a lot more pertinent issues to focus on; like the quality of pitches and technical support for coaches.”
The DStv Premiership winning tactician went on to cite the examples of coaches who deserve to be equipped further with skills to take their coaching to the next level – which he implies would improve the standard of PSL football.
“I mean if you look at the league, okay we lost Brakkies [Brandon Truter], but he did a very good job at Swallows, he was unbelievable. His team was always coached with an identity of inverted full-backs, aggressive number eights and very wide wingers,” Mokwena explained.
“You go to Sekhukhune with MacDonald and his technical team featuring Thabo Senong, Abram, these coaches are doing very very well. The way they beat SuperSport is the exact way they beat Swallows. So you see identity there, you see coaching, it’s incredible to see.
“Then you come to Royal AM with John and his technical team and you see the style of play. Even when they not playing very well but you still see the identity of the team and that’s the hardest thing in football – to develop an identity and playing model, having a concept, selling it to the players.
“Kaitano at SuperSport, also the same. So we can talk a lot about the great work a lot of our colleagues are doing and maybe that should be some of the things we should be looking at, trying to empower coaches. Trying to help these coaches to improve the product on the pitch – then we can put more pressure on issues like VAR.
“At this moment I think – Kudos… maybe I’m off ramping a bit but please allow me because I think a lot of our local coaches when I say local I mean even people like John and Kaitano, we’ve adopted them into our space – they are our brothers and look at the fantastic work they are doing. It’s a way of saying let’s empower these guys, let’s empower these coaches and help them help the product to be better.”
