Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Kuala Lumpur: Love of the game and refereeing will take futsal referees far in their officiating career, experienced futsal refereeing instructors have said.
A joint opening and closing ceremony took place in the Malaysian capital on Sunday for the AFC Futsal Referees and AFC Futsal Referee Instructors Courses, part of an ongoing AFC Refereeing Seminar 2014.
AFC Futsal Referee Instructor Matsuzaki Yasuhiro of Japan and guest instructor from UEFA Kyros Vassaras, both of whom delivered the instructors’ course, gave some words of motivation to the participants of both courses.
“I still remember the joy of playing and years after stopping playing due to an injury, I became a referee and I never looked back since,” said Vasaras.
“To me, refereeing has its own excitement and joy and I hope you feel the same.
“I hope the love of the game and refereeing will always help you develop further as referees and achieve your targets.”
Yasuhiro, who delivered a plaque to Kyrgyz futsal referee Nurdin Bukuev for his outstanding performance in 2013 during the ceremony, echoed his colleague’s sentiments, saying:
“Bukuev was a national futsal player for Kyrgyzstan. He stopped playing but his love of futsal kept him in the game and he began to make contribution and make great performances as a futsal referee.
“What’s important is unwavering appreciation for the game and the desire to constantly improve and I’m sure if you have these, you our futsal referees will keep performing well not only at the continental level but also world level.
“For this, our thanks go to the AFC Referees Department led by its Director Yoshimi Ogawa for their efforts to help develop our futsal referees and refereeing instructors.”
The four-day AFC Futsal Referees Course which had closed was instructed by Yasuhiro and FIFA/UEFA instructor Pedro Galan Nieto of Spain while FIFA/AFC Referee Fitness Instructor C. Ravichandran of Malaysia handled the fitness component of the course.
Meanwhile, the course for the instructors will cover several topics such as confirmation of the futsal laws of the game, importance of post-match analysis, roles of the referee instructor and live match observation, including a special slot entitled "Learning from UEFA". The course concludes on 19 February.