Pre-season seminar for referees held in Gozo

In its continued efforts to enhance refereeing standards at all levels of Maltese football, the Refereeing Department has organised a three-day pre season seminar for match officials on the National List, Grassroots and Non-League Referees between 28th and 30th August at the Downtown Hotel in Gozo.

The sixty participants took part in both theoretical and practical sessions conducted by MFA Referees’ Instructors Charles Agius, Philip Agius, Alexander Arena, Kevin Azzopardi and Adrian Casha. Mark Buttigieg was a guest speaker to address the participants about ‘The referee from a coach’s perspective’, while FIFA Referee Alan Mario Sant shared his refereeing experience of ‘Reaching the Top’.

The three-day seminar included a Laws of the Game Trivia, an Offside Video Test and an English Proficiency Test. The highlight of the seminar was attending for the friendly match between Kercem Ajax and Mqabba (2-3) at the Kercem Stadium, officiated by course participants Daniel Portelli, Andre’ Psaila and Ivan Galea. The match was filmed by MFA cameraman Mario Pisani and analysed in detail on the following morning by identifying the positive points and the development areas in the referees’ performance.

At the end of the seminar, Director of Refereeing Adrian Casha presented various awards for commitment, dedication and best obtained marks in the tests carried out by participants. Grassroots Referee Andrea Naudi was the overall winner with National Referee Daniel Portelli and National Assistant Referee Paul Toledo placing second. The award for commitment was won by Grassroots Referees Ezekiel Barbara and Preston Carbonaro, while National Referee Darko Stankovic won the award for dedication. National Assistant Referee Rennie Camilleri obtained the highest score in the Laws of the Game Trivia.