Football Aspiring referees start training sessions |23 March 2022
Caf referee instructors Jean-Claude Labrosse and Militna Marie running last Saturday’s session
The Seychelles Football Federation has started conducting football refereeing courses for local aspiring young referees.
On Saturday morning, a group of 15 aspiring young referees from the different secondary schools, among whom were four girls, attended a course in basic football refereeing that took place at the Maison Football auditorium, Roche Caïman.
The aim of the course with sessions to be held once a month (on a Saturday), is to have a pool of referees to, in the long run, replace the current pool of senior referees. It is also to prepare them for a Fédération Internationale de Football Association(Fifa) youth refereeing course to be held here in August 2022.
Local Confédération Africaine du Football(Caf) referee instructors Jean-Claude Labrosse and Militna Marie have been earmarked to run the course.
“When I saw the refereeing programme at the school I told myself why not join and give it a try as I love to play and watch football. Furthermore, my teacher told me that I could make a career out of it and I could possibly be among the female referees to officiate senior matches in the future. To me it looks very interesting,” said 15-year-old Christy Bristol of Persévérance secondary school.
“I didn’t get the chance to join the school’s football team so I decided to join refereeing. I also come to realise that we need to have referees to keep football alive, so Iwant to keep football alive and to one day referee a senior match,” 13-year-old Stephan Lesperance of Plaisance secondary school told Sports NATION.
“Since I witnessed the way the referee handled our first school match in the Premier League which to me was one-sided, I decided that I should take up refereeing. I find it more interesting especially with the control that you have and the decisions you have to make, it makes your brain more alert to everything happening around you. I see myself more as a referee than a footballer,” said 15 year old Jalil Banane of Persévérance secondary school.
According to Mr Labrosse, it is one of Fifa and Caf’s recommendations for each member country to have in place planned training programmes for young aspiring referees for future replacement of senior referees. He added that the training courses to be conducted, are also part of the SFF’s strategic plan to prepare young referees between the ages of 15 and 17 years old, to officiate games at senior level after completion of five years’ training.
He said that apart from theory sessions the young referees will also follow practical sessions which will includeofficiating all under-15 up to under-20youth football competitions that were being officiated by senior referees. He noted that the senior referees have too much on their hands as they have to officiate national league matches.
Mr Labrosse said the aspiring referees will learn some basic rules at firstfollowed by more advanced level training. He further said that the SFF, in its plan of action, also caters for youth exchange training programmes and the young referees could have the possibility to benefit under such exchange programmes with other football federations in other countries, including courses offered by Caf and other international football regulatory bodies, for further exposure and to further develop their refereeing career.
He said although the SFF will be targeting around 20 youths for the training programme, the door remains open for other young aspiring young referees who may wish to join. The refereeing course training programme will also be held for young aspiring referees on the inner islands.
Patrick Joubert