Nkole weighs in on VAR debate – FAZ aspiring president says new cadre of Refs needed

MUKWIMA CHILALA writes WE should work towards creating a cadre of competent referees rather venturing into ambitious Video assistant referee, says Former Referees Association of Zambia (RAZ) president Joseph Nkole . And Nkole says that it was unthinkable to start looking at bringing Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology when there were many challenges facing the match officials. FAZ president Andrew Kamanga was last week quoted as having said that he intends to introduce VAR for super league matches once re-elected. But Nkole was of the view that Zambia did not yet have the numbers to venture into VAR. He noted that the investment needed to venture into VAR was huge citing that CAF had not yet fully implemented it. The FAZ presidential candidate noted that it was prudent to instead use the money to equip the already existing referees with equipment training. He further said equipping the match officials with good training would enable them make good decisions on the pitch. “We can’t start to talk about VAR. That’s not a priority, we will only do that once we get to that level because that’s not possible at the moment when our referees are not even paid yet, but the games are now at Week 24,” Nkole said. “Zambia does not require over speculative thinking at the moment because even in Europe where VAR is being used, it is creating problems. There has been concerns in the Zambian League regarding match officials from various clubs. European leagues have adopted Video Assistant referee which was also used during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.