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.

Ref Kids

Schoolboys Referees in the Making

20 schoolboys age, ranging from 12 to 14 years old have been roped in to attend the schoolboy's basic referee's course at FAM House starting 20 - 23 July and 28 - 30 July 2009.

The course includes theory sessions where the boys are introduced to the Laws of the Game through video clippings and practical sessions at the turf.

The course is handled by the Referees Director, Amir Sharifuddin and assisted by Ahmed Abeer Ismail and Ahmed Ameez.

The aim of this course is to produce the future referees of Maldives like the current up and coming referee, Basil Nafees, who is a product of courses of the same nature done years ago. The emphasis for this group of school boys will be to be able to acquire the assistant referee's skill so that they can keep lines during the YDP Festival in August 2009. A few may eventually be motivated to continue and pursue their career in refereeing.

A basic FUTSAL referee course is also scheduled in the evening (4.00 - 6.00 pm) for adults from the 28 July to 2 August 2009 at the FAM House and the Turf Ground. 32 participants have registered to attend this course.

Seeking Mutual Respect

Situations like this (picture) should exist in the local scenario of football. Coaches or team officials and the match officials should not have any grudge or prejudice over each other's roles and responsibilities. Referee should not think that the players and team officials are always sceptical over their decisions, unsporting or are always questioning whatever decisions made. The team officials also should not be thinking that the referees are always bias, one-sided, picking on him or his players or always too harsh on the players.
Respecting and understanding each other duties, roles and responsibilities will establish the correct frame of mind to accept each other strengths and weaknesses. Understanding that the coach has a heavy burden to bear if the team do not win or produce a good performance (as they area answerable for their results), the stress the coach is undergoing when his team is trailing, the position the coach is when he viewed the incident and the anxiety they are undergoing will put the referee in a better position to judge and decide better. Coach should know that if their player can make mistakes, the referee also has the potential to make mistake. Making mistakes is part and partial of the game but making mistakes at the expense of the team or changing the results of the match is considered as unacceptable and the match official concern shall be dealt with accordingly. Minor error or mistake in making decisions are influenced by many factors like, positioning, angle of view, recognition and interpretation of the incident, anxiety, stress and many other factor do affect the referees decisions. The fact that coaches think that the referee is on bribe or bias should not be present in the mind at all. Otherwise, any decisions made by the referee will be seen as wrong. Good decisions, actions or advantage played by the referee should be commended and received warmly. The assistant referees are in a better to judge offside or goal line decisions than the coaches who are standing in the technical area. Thus what ever decisions made should be accepted sportingly. The picture above,Coach: do you want a drink ref? Referee (smiling): No! thank you but I need you to sit down.
Referee should feel free to be able to be engaged in small conversation or exchange of word with the players or team officials but not in a sarcastic manner. Respecting each other's duties and roles and respecting each other actions will put the game at a higher level towards professionalism.

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