PSL Club Official Surprises with Comments on Referees!

On Wednesday, Peter Koutroulis, the former Mamelodi Sundowns’ general manager and current football manager at Pretoria Callies, had a surprising comment about match officials after a league clash this past weekend.

Koutroulis has been instrumental in helping the team move up from the bottom of the Motsepe Foundation Championship log after 12 matches, to currently sitting in ninth place on the standings after 22 matches.

Prior to Koutroulis’ arrival at Callies, the club’s head coach Kwanele Kopo had been the biggest critic of the match officials although he has since made a U-turn and has been full of praise for them these days with the team winning.

Speaking exclusively to the Siya crew, Koutroulis thanked the referees for how they officiated in their most recent match on Sunday, against Black Leopards, which they won 2-1.

“I would like to say thank you to all the referees who have officiated in the matches for Pretoria Callies (since my arrival at the club). I don’t want to criticize them when they are doing well. On Sunday, we played Black Leopards in Venda and the referee who officiated in the match was the best. In fact, all of them (including the assistants) were very good,” said Koutroulis.

Koutroulis went on to say that he has not encountered any refereeing problems in the league, and that he was happy with how the match officials tried to be fair with their decisions.

“I hear stories with people criticizing referees and I feel they should be complemented when they do well. Yes, referees do make mistakes at times and that’s because they are human beings too. In this league, the most difficult league because NFD (Motsepe Foundation Championship) is the most difficult league, I haven’t encountered any refereeing problems. I congratulated them (the match officials) because they were good and tried to be 50/50 with their decisions and I’m really happy,” he said.