Moorosi Tsiane
THE Lesotho Referees Committee coordinator, Mohau Sentšo, says they have submitted an application to FIFA for online referees’ course.
This after FIFA recently said that due to the World Health Organisations (WHO) guidelines on managing the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, its annual referees’ refresher courses would be held online. FIFA normally sends instructors to different countries for the courses but that is not possible this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Due to the major impact of the virus, FIFA has been searching for alternative ways to continue our mission of supporting and improving refereeing globally,” reads the statement from FIFA Referees Committee chairperson Pierluigi Collina and FIFA Director of Refereeing Massimo Busacca to all 211 member associations.
“We understand how important it is to provide solutions that allow referees to develop and train as safely and effectively as possible. Therefore, we are pleased to inform you that FIFA Refereeing will now offer courses via an online classroom tool. This solution is designed to provide ongoing support to your referees, assistant referees, video assistant referees, instructors and assessors.
“In cooperation with your refereeing department, online courses will be organised to best meet your needs. We hope that this new training format will be of value to you.”
Sentšo told the Lesotho Times yesterday that they were now awaiting FIFA’s response so that they can know the suitable dates for the courses.
“We submitted the application last Tuesday and we are now awaiting the response. We are confident that we will be part of the course,” Sentšo said.
He said they were happy that the referees would finally have some productive work to do instead of remaining idle during the break.
“This is a frustrating period but we all know how dangerous it is for the referees’ form to remain seated at home. They must have something to do and remain active.”
He said the referees would study individually while the course would run from Tuesdays to Thursdays.
“We already have a COSAFA referee’s WhatsApp group where different videos clips have been shared for referees to discuss them. I think that is also helping them especially now that there are new amendments that have been made to the laws. I think this would be handy when the leagues resume,” Sentšo said.
