The Guyana Football Federation [GFF] officially launched the International Federation of Association Football [FIFA] Refereeing Assistance Programme [RAP] yesterday at the Critchlow Labour College, Woolford Avenue.
The forum, which caters for 35 individuals, will feature technical and practical sessions. It will be facilitated by Peter Prendergast, FIFA’s Technical Instructor and Facilitator.
The RAP is a capacity building programme which seeks to create uniformity among elite referees and enable same to meet the demands of the game. A fitness test is scheduled for today.
Forde during brief remarks said, “Referees development is a key goal and objective of the GFF. To us the quality of football will only grow and evolve in a positive way if the refereeing that occurs on and off the field grows and evolves as well.”
Meanwhile, Prendergast revealed that the course is going to be different from the norm following the completion of a World Cup program, adding “The program is one that encourages full participation, it’s a dialogue and discussions and the primary objective of the course is to professionalize the environment in which the referees operate and to ensure that the interpretation is standardized in all nook and cranny across the world. So that when we see the referees on the field of play they are actually doing what is required.”
