Another talent unfolded

"Nothing venture, nothing gain". The Referees Director decision of trying out new breed of referees was successful. Ahmed Afsah, another AFC Project Future participants was tried out for the first time in his first debut in the Wataniya Dhivehi League Division I match with AYL playing Kalhaidhoo last night (27 August 2009). Although the match ended with AYL leading 4 -0, it was not a one sided match as Kalhaidhoo, a financially troubled side gave a strong fight before going down.

Afsah, has a strong character, calm in his personality, decisive and firm in his decision with loud and clear whistling. He was mobile in his movement but need to improve in his sprints. His decisions were well accepted and this includes his cards shown. With the cooperation of players and team officials football fans can look forward to having more new young referees to take charge of the games in future with young referees like Basil Nafees, Ismail Izhaan, Ahmed Afsah and Ahmed Shifan budding into good future referees.

Football Association of Maldives will be running a new referee basic course in October (19 - 26) 2009 in Male'. The aim of this course is to recruit more young referees to act as back-up squad for the senior referees who will retiring in the future. Participation forms can be obtained at the FAM House. Only 30 participants will be registered for the course.

Izhaan first debut in Dhivehi League Division I

"Butterfly should be allowed to grow out its cocoon". The moment it spreads its wings and away it will fly and live a live of it own. AFC Project Future participant - Ismail Izhaan was given his first break in the Wataniya Dhivehi League Division One match when Victory Sports Club played Club Valencia at the National Stadium on 21st August 2009. This will a day to be remembered in his refereeing career.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step". Every one should be given the first step in handling the first task. God's willing he lived up to the Referees Director's expectation. He handled the match well with some room for improvement in minor areas. Both teams accepted his decisions and in fact most of the teams in this league are looking forward to some new breed of referees to take charge in the middle. Making and grooming of good excellent referees is not the task of the referees family alone (referee department, assessors, instructors, senior referees) but it also needs the support and cooperation of all clubs involved. Without their patience and support, by absorbing some minor errors of the referees in the learning and grooming process, the vision of getting our match officials in the international level will not succeed.

FUTURO III Referee Instructor Course

FIFA FUTURO III Referee Instructor course was held in Male', Maldives from the 14th - 19th August 2009. FIFA Referee Development Senior Manager, Fernando Tresaco Gracia personally came and supersee the course. FIFA Instructors were Masoud Enayat from Iran and Viktor Kolpakov (Kyrgstan). AFC 2007 Women Referee of the year, Tammy Ogston was also present on behalf of AFC. 17 participants from Nepal, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Iran, Sri Lanka and Maldives attended the course. FIFA latest teaching materials, DVDs, course-ware, practical sessions were imparted to the participants who also had to play their part as instructor in theory and practical lessons. They were assessed in this two elements besides the theory and video tests. FIFA aim in having uniformity in the interpretation and implementation of the Laws through out the World will be enhanced by these instructors when they play their role effectively in their countries after the course.
Amir Sharifuddin Wong,
(Local Coordinator)

Tell Me Why

Presentation by Fernando Tresaco Gracia

FIFA Refereeing Development Senior Manager, Fernando Tresaco Gracia presented this clipping in memory of a very dear friend during the FUTURO III Referee Instructors Course held in Male', Maldives. He imparted many invaluable knowledge and skills in this course to instructors in the SAFF region. His presence was a great honor and a blessing to us as we gather a lot of updated knowledge and skills from him.

FUTSAL REFEREE BASIC COURSE

Football Association of Maldives have just completed the FUTSAL Referee Basic Course held on the 28 July till 2 August 2009. 23 participants successfully completed the course. They underwent theory and practical sessions, tested on their fitness and also on identifying fouls and misconduct through video tests. The successful participants will be put to test by exposing them to refereeing in order to gain their confidence in the YDP Festival competition. They will gain their refereeing experiences when officiating the matches. Hopefully this group of new FUTSAL referees will be able to officiate in all other tournaments in Male.

Other existing referees will be given a refresher course, theory test, fitness test and also be registered as FAM FUTSAL referees if they qualified. So in future, FAM will have a different sets of referees in the normal game and the FUTSAL games. FAM is also intending to raise the standards of organising of these competitions and thus the standards of the game will also be raised. Hopefully by 2011 or 2012, referees can be nominated to be registered as FIFA FUTSAL Referees.