The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) in conjunction with the sport’s world governing body FIFA on Wednesday ended their Referees Assessors Programme (RAP) with a closing ceremony at the National Library. The course, which was said to be the first of its kind in the world, lasted for one week during which time local referees were brought up to date with the laws of the game and several other areas to enable them to properly execute the laws of the game. FIFA Referee Instructor – Peter Prendergast of Jamaica, FIFA Referee Fitness Instructor – Mereree Gonzales of Trinidad and Tobago and FIFA’s Referee Development Officer – Ramesh Ramdan also of Trinidad and Tobago were in charge of programme.
According to Prendergast, he was happy with the enthusiasm shown by the referees, instructors and assessors and added that he hoped they can take their new-found knowledge of the game to properly execute the laws of the game.
He also urged the gathering to never compromise the laws of the game to suit no game nor tournament.
President of the GFF, Colin Klass, thanked the three FIFA officials for imparting their knowledge and vowed to constantly lurk FIFA for programmes beneficial to Guyana’s football development. “The referee council is much richer with the human resources,” said president of the Guyana Referee Council, Alfred King.
King spoke of the growth of the pool of local and FIFA certified referees and stressed the importance of having such programmes to help in their development.
He said it would be a delight to see at least three local referees at the 2014 World Cup which will be held in Brazil adding that this will be the primary focus.
The FIFA RAP programme is an initiative of FIFA’s vice-president and CONCACAF and the Caribbean Football Union boss, Austin `Jack’ Warner which is aimed at bringing all referees around the world on par.
