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The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) is pleased to announce the launching of the FAM Top Referees Course 2015 at the Zenith Hotel in Kuantan, Pahang earlier today.
The four-day workshop is attended by a total of 22 referees and 28 assistant referees and will take place from 24 until 26 March. It is aimed at further enhancing the development of refereeing in Malaysia in accordance with FAM’s move to privatise the Malaysian leagues.
Launching of the workshop was attended by the workshop was attended by Tengku Abdullah Shah, President of FAM, Dato’ Hamidin Haji Mohd. Amin, General Secretary of FAM, Goh Ah Chai, Chairman of FAM’s Referee’s Committee, Massimo Busacca, Head of FIFA Refereeing Department, Manuel Navaro, Deputy Head of FIFA Refereeing Department and Alvardo D. Posada, IT and Video expert for FIFA.
“Local referees need to speak the same language as their global counterparts - they need to improve on their consistency and can't afford to make the same mistakes repeatedly,” said Tengku Abdullah.
“Only as individuals can they remedy their weakness and this can be done by self-improvement from the knowledge gained during this workshop as it is being delivered by world class experts. It is one of my personal KPI’s as the President of FAM to improve the quality of refereeing in Malaysia – this is why I have obtained the support and assistance of FIFA and David Ellery,” he added.
He also said that Malaysia have produced world class referees - inclusive of the late Nazri Abdullah, Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh and Rita Gani (Best Female Referee in Asia for 2014)
Tengku Abdullah also mentioned that C. Ravichandran, former Head of FAM’s Referee Department is now a FIFA instructor for the Asian region.
Massimo Busacca was also in unison with Tengku Abdullah on the necessity of the workshop.
“The purpose of the workshop is for the referees to understand what needs to be improved. Referees can improve issues however it's not possible to eliminate it all together - as they are humans and humans make mistakes,” said Busacca.
The workshop represents FAM’s commitment to bring Malaysian football to greater heights by improving every aspect of its development which includes maintaining high standards of refereeing in the country at all times.
FAM is currently taking all the necessary steps to improve this crucial area of the game and will continue to do so in the years to come.