SVGFF wants more FIFA listed referees

The Executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) wants more local referees on the FIFA list, Local Referees’ Administrator Osbourne Bowens told SEARCHLIGHT on Monday.{{more}}

“We want to see how many referees we can take to the highest level, which are the regional and international levels, the FIFA level and become FIFA accredited referees,” Bowens said at the start of a five-day training workshop for referees at the SVGFF’s office in Kingstown.

He said the move is being made because this country has a shortage of such personnel, notwithstanding the many existing opportunities.

There is one Vincentian referee, two assistant referees and one female referee on the FIFA list, Bowens said.

“… we are hoping that we will bring at least another four females on the list,” he said.

Bowens said that the Federation is hoping that there would be at least five FIFA-accredited referees when the executive’s tenure ends in 2015.

He said he is responsible for developing an examination that referees would take to move through the three stages of competence, namely Tiers 1, 2, and 3.

In mapping out the process, Bowens promoted a mentorship programme that pairs young and aspiring referees with their more experienced colleagues “to ensure that they are cultured properly.

“ We are taking seriously the matter of mentorship of our young referees,” he said.

Bowens further said he would soon examine recruiting of referees, remuneration of match officials to bring parity, because all match officials, irrespective of seniority, are currently paid basically the same.

“We also want to develop a database, to ensure that we can distribute referees across St Vincent and the Grenadines, in all of the leagues, [at all levels] … to ensure that we can move our referees around to put the best persons in the best places for the development of the game.”

Bowens said he would be advocating the reactivation of a referees’ association to consider security, remuneration, insurance and other matters to ensure harmony with the executive of the SVGFF.

The workshop, which concludes today, was organised to update local referees on amendments to football laws, which came into effect on July 1.

New and seasoned refereed attended the workshop, which targeted 40 participants, who will receive certificates

Resource persons were Clemroy Francois and Andrew Bramble. (RT)