The participants and the FIFA instructors were welcomed to Fiji by Fiji FA CEO Bob Kumar who expressed his delight at once again welcoming the region’s top referee instructors and their FIFA counterparts.
“It is a great honour for Fiji Football Association to be hosting this regional course and we are grateful to the FIFA Referee Development team for their support,” Kumar said.
“We’d like to thank FIFA for the chance to organise and host this course which will develop, educate and improve referee instructors from around the Oceania region.”
The week-long course was officially opened by Fiji Sports Commission chief executive officer Litiana Loabuka who urged participants to make use of the opportunity to discuss and improve refereeing in their respective countries.
“You will get new tools to improve your teaching technique and this is a great opportunity for you to exchange and share ideas with other Member Associations from the region and make use of the opportunity to discuss and improve refereeing in your country.
“As we get closer to the hosting of the OFC Champions League, we are challenged to provide knowledgeable and quality referees who would merit selection as FIFA World Cup referees.
“We expect the 2015 OFC Champions League will provide a major platform for advocacy to the effect that, the Oceania referee is capable of handling any level of football match in the world.”
Loabuka also appreciated the huge role played by referees and instructors to develop and improve the standard of football in Oceania and believes the course would help further enhance the level of refereeing in the region.
Leading the FIFA delegation is Refereeing Development senior manager Fernando Tresaco-Gracia, who said the main objective is to improve the overall level and standard of the referees.
“Our philosophy is to improve the level of the referees and we can only obtain this through these kinds of courses.
FIFA Referee Instructors Steve Bennett, Toshio Utsumi, Robert Tibbo and FIFA fitness instructor Mark Hester are delivering the course content, which concludes on Saturday.
For more on Fiji football visit fijifootball.com.fj.

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