A five day Young Referees Course has began on Monday in the three regions.
The course, which is under the Women’s Football League Development Programme, has been organised to train Young referees who will be officiating in the FIFA/FAM Under 14 and Under 16 Girls Leagues.
A total of 107 young referees between 14-16 years are taking part in the courses that are taking place in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu
Speaking during the official opening of the central region course at Our Lady of Africa Prayer Center in Lilongwe National Women’s Football Association Chairperson Adellaide Migogo urged the young referees course to be confident to grow in the game.
“As referees, these boys and girls will be on charge of our games and every decision they make has an impact in the final result of the game. Sometimes referees are intimidated by the behavior of fans and players but this course seeks to impart that confidence in the young people so that they grow with it.
“Once we nurture these referees at a younger age, they will grow with the knowledge and be better referees in the future. The course will also help improve our Leagues since the games will be officiated by trained and qualified referees,” she said.
Migogo also encouraged the young referees to keep on working hard to be good referees sighting an example of Wyson Mustafa, a 15year-old Blantyre-based referee who officiated at the inaugural CAF African Schools Championship in South Africa.
One of the Instructors at the course Martha Nyekanyeka said the course will create a good succession plan for the referees since they will replace those elite referees who will be retiring.
“We will take these young referees through the17 Laws of the game as well as some practicals at the field of play during the five days. Through this course, we will have a pool of young referees to replace those who are now growing up and as assessors, we will be following up on the participants to see how they are performing in the youth leagues that they will be officiating”, she said.
