By Rawle Toney
Over the next three days, 32 of Guyana’s football referees will be involved in intense training at the Carifesta Sports Complex, Thomas Lands as the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and the Guyana Football Referees Council (GFRC) in association with the world governing body for football, FIFA, hosts an Member Association Elite Referees Course.
The objective of the course which started yesterday is to enhance the local referees’ knowledge of the game and to effect greater uniformity and higher standards of performance at the regional and international levels.
According to FIFA instructor Ramesh Ramdhan, they will also deal with Laws 11 and 12 which have the game’s most important and controversial laws.
In Law 11, they will be looking at the “Off Side” play which Ramdhan says is always a major issue whenever a referee makes the call.
They will also focus on such topics as gaining advantage, interfering with play and interfering with an opponent.
Law 12, he says, basically deals with discipline and they will be paying keen attention to see how the local referees react to these rules since they will have a question and answer segment after a video simulation.
This will see them looking at serious foul play, violent conduct, unsporting behaviour and reckless challenges.
Apart from their knowledge enhancement, the fitness of the referees will also be examined and they will have to take the fitness test using the new Electronic Gate System. Ramdhan informed that this is the fifth course for the year since earlier they held the same course in Jamaica, Barbados, Suriname and St Vincent and the Grenadines, which he says is very essential for the sport of football.
He stated that it was very important that the referees who are enforcers of the laws of the game be given constant updates and a chance to better themselves since it is only then the sport can be properly officiated.
Apart from Ramdhan who hails from Trinidad and countryman Merere Gonzales and Peter Prendergast of Jamaica will be the other FIFA instructors who will take the referees through their paces, and they will be assisted by local referee instructors Colin “BL” Aaron and Lawrence “Sparrow” Griffith.
At yesterday’s opening President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) K. Juman Yassin stated that it was heartening to see officials of different sports disciplines being constantly updated and tested to ascertain their level of understanding of the game.
General Secretary of the GFF Noel Adonis congratulated the GFRC for having the course and underscored Yassin’s views about the value of the course.
President of the GFRC Alfred King said that the course was most welcome since the referees are preparing to go in action at one of Guyana’s biggest football events which is the Kashif and Shanghai tournament.
He said that with the course the referees will be better able to handle themselves since the tournament is also known for having its share of controversy with referees. The course is set to conclude December 2.
