The Most Famous
REFEREES from South Africa
This page contains a list of the greatest South African Referees. The pantheon dataset contains 147 Referees, 1 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 49th most number of Referees behind Israel, and Ukraine.
Top 2
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary South African Referees of all time. This list of famous South African Referees is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Jerome Damon (b. 1972)
With an HPI of 39.80, Jerome Damon is the most famous South African Referee. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages on wikipedia.
Jerome Kelvyn Damon (born 4 April 1972) is a retired South African football referee. He was voted PSL Referee of the Season in 2004–05 and 2008–09. An international referee since 2000, Damon was on stand-by for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and was a referee at the 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. He was preselected as a referee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
2. Victor Gomes (b. 1982)
With an HPI of 33.98, Victor Gomes is the 2nd most famous South African Referee. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Victor Miguel de Freitas Gomes (born 15 December 1982) is a South African football referee. A PSL referee since 2008, Gomes was voted PSL Referee of the Season in 2012–13 and 2017–18 and has been an international referee since 2011. In 2018, he was hailed by the South African Football Association after he rejected and reported an attempted bribe of over R300 000. Gomes had been approached and offered the sum of money to fix a CAF Confederation Cup match between Nigerian side Plateau United and Algerian side USM Alger. He was again nominated for the PSL Referee of the Season award upon the conclusion of the domestic campaign. He officiated the 2019 and 2021 edition of Africa Cup of Nations. He refereed the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Final between Senegal and Egypt.
People
Pantheon has 2 people classified as South African referees born between 1972 and 1982. Of these 2, 2 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living South African referees include Jerome Damon, and Victor Gomes. As of April 2024, 1 new South African referees have been added to Pantheon including Victor Gomes.
