Safa not worried with Ghanaian referee Lamptey’s banning

The South African Football Association (Safa) is not concerned with the banning of Joseph Lamptey, who officiated Bafana Bafana’s 2-1 win over Senegal in November last year.

“That is not our issue. It has nothing to do with us. We can’t comment. We played the match and we have no fear of that issue. What happens to the referee involves CAF and Fifa,” Safa spokesperson Dominic Chimhavi told The Sowetan.

Lamptey was initially suspended for three matches by Fifa after Senegal lodged a complaint with Caf over the penalty he awarded to Bafana.

Safa has been previously been rocked by match-fixing scandals. Prior to the 2010 Fifa World Cup, friendly matches against Thailand, Colombia and Guatemala to have been fixed.

This led to bans for Lindile ‘Ace’ Kika, Steve Goddard, Adeel Carelse, Leslie Sedibe and former Safa president Kirsten Nematandani.

Recent reports have indicated that the match between Bafana and Senegal could be replayed from scratch, but nothing has been confirmed by Caf nor Fifa.