30 July 2024 – The Referees Department of the South African Football Associations concluded their Pre-season workshop which was held over two phases with the second group concluding on Tuesday, 30 July 2024 in Pretoria. A total of 123 match officials, assessors/match commissioners and instructors participated in the workshop.
They were taken through the latest Laws of the game amendments, new concepts & considerations of the FIFA Laws of the game, Teamwork Game Management & Integrity Sessions. All match official invited to the workshop ran a category one fitness test.
The workshop focused not only on the technical components of the laws of the game, but also on the physical conditioning of the match officials to ensure that they are at a high level of fitness and with some of the friendly matches that they have been officiating during the off-season, we hope that they are now at a high level of match fitness.
With the referee assessors that were present, the instructors impressed on them the importance of their assessment reports as a tool to assist in ensuring that match officials are doing well in their understanding and application of the laws of the game and to ensure that those who are new on the National Panel are provided with very good feedback to ensure their ongoing development.
With the completion of the workshops, there is now the expectation that the match officials carry this information that have been provided with onto the field of play when officiating during the various league matches.
Speaking to safa.net SAFA Head of Referees Abdul Ebrahim said that they were looking forward to the upcoming season and believes that the match official have been provided with all the tools they need to prepare them for the grueling 2024-2025 season and that they are well prepared to deliver the standard of officiating expected of National match officials.
“We are always criticized by some media, clubs, and supporters in football, and most are unjustifiably so, but we believe that match officials always do their best to deliver on the field of play with honesty, fairness, and integrity.
I must however state that it is extremely disappointing that despite extending an invitation to players and coaches of teams in the NSL, where they could learn about the application of the laws of the game, only six out of 32 clubs attended the online sessions. What is of greater disappointment is the fact that of the attendees of the six clubs, none were coaches or players. The Referee’s Department is still at their disposal.”
“As a former match official myself, I understand the pressures that come with this title, but I believe that our match officials know the immense pressure they are always under, so regardless of being scrutinized by everyone, I know they will stand tall and deliver.
We thank SAFA and the PSL for always ensuring that every year, national match officials can come together for the Pre- and Mid-Season courses in ensuring their ongoing development and that our match officials are always up to date with modern refereeing trends.
A special thanks must go to everyone involved in making this workshop a success and to the instructors who delivered the FIFA Teaching Material. We would like to thank:
Victor Gomes Chairman of the NRC
Dawn Lubisi National Referee Administration
Paulo Marques Lead Technical Instructor
Jerome Damon National Referees Committee & Technical Instructor
Enock Molefe National Referees Committee & Technical Instructor
Lufuno Nemagovhani Technical Instructor
Lebogang Daniels Technical Instructor
Bongumusa Ngwenya Lead Physical Instructor
Brian Sibisi Physical Instructor
Johnny du Toit Technical Instructor & IT
We are looking forward to a great season and believe that more of our match officials will be recognized by CAF and FIFA for their quality;” conclude Ebrahim.