Referee Boniface gets tough |18 December 2004

A former Plaisance and Seychelles central defender, Boniface knows most of the tricks in the book. So don’t try to fool him or you’ll regret it.

Some even say he is too strict as a referee. But can the man mellow?

“I stopped refereeing three years ago, but with the level of discipline reaching an unprecedented low in the game here, I was asked by many to come back to give a helping hand. I heeded their advice and I can say that refereeing here has improved a lot since,” said the man, known as a hardliner.

The 2004 season has been a rewarding one for referee Gonzague Boniface on the field as he controlled his matches very well and refereed the Land Marine Cup final between Red Star and Anse Réunion.

But off the field, especially on the administrative side, things didn’t work out like he would have wished.

“I was disappointed not to receive the referee of the year award. Normally, the best referee takes charge of the Cup final. After each Cup final, match officials receive trophies before the teams, but we only got ours after everybody had left Stad Linite. Eddie Maillet (voted the best referee for the year 2004) called me after having received the prize and told me that I should have won. I don’t understand the criteria used for judging the best referee,” said Boniface, who will celebrate his 45th birthday on Wednesday December 22.

Last week, Boniface was presented with a certificate and a silver plaque on which is engraved ‘for excellent performance for the year 2004’.

“How can I receive a silver plaque for excellent performance when I’m not the referee of the year? Also, why has the award come so late and why was I presented with it inside the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) office? I would have been proud to receive it in front of a big crowd like when they presented the referee of the year award. Once again, this proves that there’s double standard within the SFF. Upon receiving the award, my mind clicked back to 2002 when the SFF declared La Passe and St Michel as joint first division League champions. Many people, and probably you too, don’t know that one cup was presented at the Astro-turf pitch and the other at the La Digue playing field,” said Boniface.

Asked what he intends to do now that he will be reaching the refereeing age limit of 45 set by the Fédération internationale de football association (Fifa), Boniface replied:
“If I’m in good shape physically, I’ll continue refereeing. I will also help Eddie Maillet in training young referees, to mould them into strict officials who can be respected by players.”
 
G. G.