A five-day referee training course for FIFA Member Associations (MA) came to end on Tuesday at a hotel in Banjul.
The course, organised by The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) and sponsored by FIFA, brought together Gambia’s elite FIFA and top local referees including four women who were all inducted into the FIFA List of Referees.
Twenty-eight referees in total attended the training and were all certificated after passing a fitness test at the opening of the course.
The GFF President, Lamin Kabba Bajo, who doubles as Chairman of the Referees Committee of the Federation, congratulated the participants for passing the physical fitness test, which according to him was the highest accolade after no reported failures have been recorded.
“Your presence here is based on merit and not longevity. You have to work very hard because we have our leagues and international engagements where people are observing you and, therefore, we cannot compromise with quality and standards,” Bajo said.
He challenged the referees to maintain their integrity and fairness in the game. “I challenge my Referees Committee to increase the number of women referees in the next FIFA List of Referees.”
Speaking earlier, the Adviser to the GFF Executive Committee and a retired international referee, Alhaji Omar Sey, thanked the course instructors for sharing the knowledge hence their understanding of the rules and laws of the game.
“I want to thank the GFF for their support to Gambian refereeing and I must say that I am very proud of that initiative,” Sey said. He noted that one of the strengths of Gambian football is refereeing and hence the celebration of Bakary Papa Gassama as Africa’s best.
The Course Director and FIFA Referee Development Officer, Carlos Henrique, said the end of the course does not mean the end of refereeing. “We are looking for more elite referees on the CAF list and therefore you must work extra hard so that we can have more men and ladies on the merit list,” Henrique said, while thanking the GFF for the support given to referees.
The vote of thanks was delivered by CAF Referee of the Year Bakary Papa Gassama. He thanked the GFF for the good relationship and support extended to the refereeing community. “I want to thank CAF and FIFA for the support and training programme given to us and not forgetting the Government of The Gambia through the Ministry of Youth and Sports.”
