Referees and assistants prepare for final stages of domestic competitions

The MFA Referees Department organised a one-day seminar for referees controlling matches from the Premier League to the Third Division and a two-day workshop for Assistant Referees earlier this month.

On Saturday 14th February, the seminar for referees “Enhancing Performance” was meant to prepare referees for the final stages of domestic competitions. Director of Refereeing Adrian Casha explained the referees’ responsibility to prepare themselves well ahead of this vital stage of the football season as honours are won and lost. He stressed on the need of each referee to improve the physical, technical and psychological aspect.

Other speakers were Kevin Azzopardi who focussed on Penalty Area Decisions, John Feigherty on Asserting Authority & Maintaining Match Control, Adele Muscat on Mental Toughness in Refereeing and Franz Tabone on More Awareness & Guidelines about Match Fixing.

Stephen Grima spoke on Technical Understanding of the Game, Ronald Zammit on The Need for Quality Training, Tom A. Restall on Administrative Matters and Adrian Casha on Freekick Management and Evaluation of Challenges.

The MFA Refereeing Department organised an Assistant Referees’ Workshop between the 10th and 11th February. This was led by assistant referee specialist Leif Lindberg, assisted by Philip Agius who is the official in charge of assistant referees. The workshop included theoretical and practical sessions.

Meanwhile a seminar for referees observers was held between the 15 and 16th February.

Adrian Casha explained the guidelines for referee observers while Victor Mintoff asked referee observers to assess the EURO 2016 qualifier between Germany and Scotland and then discussed the different ratings given by participants and the way how certain incidents are viewed stress the need for more uniformity in assessment.