Chairman of the
Referees Committee of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Yusuf Ahmed Fresh on
Sunday praised the general attitude and commitment of Nigeria’s elite referees
who are presently on a two –week capacity enhancing programme in the United
Kingdom.
Fresh, also a
Member of the NFF Executive Committee, is also the leader of delegation at the
programme.
“I am enamoured by
the spirit that the referees have brought to this programme. They have shown
total dedication and I am very proud to be leading this group of worthy
ambassadors,” Fresh said on telephone from London.
The contingent,
also including the President of Nigeria Referees Association, Alhaji Ahmed
Maude, arrived in London on Wednesday evening after flying from Lagos.
On Thursday, the
11 referees had their first training session at Wembley Stadium, where Mr. Ian Blanchard, head of refereeing at The
Football Association, lectured them for three hours on structure of refereeing,
laws of the game and players/coaches/referees’ relationship.
On Friday, the
referees were at Southampton’s St. Mary’s ground to watch a match between the
U-18 teams of Southampton and West Brom, after which they were engaged in a
two-hour question-and-answer session with Mr. Albert, head of refereeing at
Southampton.
On Saturday,
Nigeria’s leading arbiters were at the Etihad
Stadium in Manchester to watch the English Premiership match between
Manchester City and Everton, which City won 1-0. They wrote a report of the
refereeing aspect immediately after the match.
The referees will
this week embark on a tour of Arsenal FC’s Emirates
Stadium, be involved in analyzing weekend Premier League matches, visit The
FA’s High Performance training facility at St. George’s Park and be at a
referees’ training organisation’s ground to give talk on fitness and
conditioning.
0 comments:
Speak up your mind
Tell us what you're thinking... !