A well-known local football administrator, Mr Ephraim Singo, has been given a new role in football. He will be chairing the provincial refereeing sub-committee for the next four years. His appointment came into effect on Monday this week.
During an interview with him, Singo said that his goal was to get rid of corruption in refereeing. Makhanda, as he was known during his time as a referee, admitted that for him to eradicate corrupt activities completely would not be easy. He added that he would create an environment that would make things difficult to both the match officials and the clubs officials to pay or receive a bribe in order to influence the results of matches.
Singo said that his aim was to see the teams gaining promotion to the higher divisions in a fair and just way. He would like to see a decline in the number of protests and complaints regarding the officiating at games in the province.
Singo's refereeing career started way back in 1981. He went through the ranks and officiated in the professional division for several years before his retirement in 1992. Professional games where he officiated that still stand out include the Bloemfontein and Amazulu league game that was played at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium in Bloemfontein. He recalled that he had escaped death by a whisker in that game after the fans of Amazulu had run amok when Celtic had scored the winning goal towards the end of the game.
The Mainstay Cup game between Ria Stars and Seshego Naughty Boys, which was played at the Seshego Stadium in Polokwane, will remain fresh in his memory for a long time. According to him, the situation had taken an ugly turn after Naughty Boys scored their second goal in the dying minutes of the game. Fans of Ria Stars started to throw various objects onto the pitch and later invaded the pitch. Gunshots were fired at the stadium and his life and those of his assistants were only saved when the police officers who were at the stadium intervened.
Singo is the current second deputy president for the Safa Vhembe Regional Association.