The course was officially opened by Vanuatu Football Federation (VFF) President Lambert Maltock who started by thanking those present for their dedication to one of the most important jobs in football.
“I urge all you FIFA referees and amateur referees to wake up and move forward with the development of football,” the VFF Refereeing Standing Committee chairman told the 30 course participants.
“You can see that football in Port Vila is moving forward but we referees are still behind. If we can have foreign players coming to play in our country that means the football level and standard is coming up and we need to improve our performances to be at the same level.”
Maltock acknowledges the difficulties a referee can face, but urged the participants to continue their hard work towards the betterment of Vanuatu football.
“In life there is no smooth water for a referee and each year FIFA provides a course to help you continue to improve. Please don’t wait for the course – you need to run your own weekly training and courses to help you improve on your own.”
FIFA Referee Instructor Mark Hester led the course at Teouma Academy in Port Vila and encouraged all the participating officials to continue building their knowledge of the game and improving their skills through regular practice.
“The main objective of this course is to assist the local FIFA and amateur referees’ education and to improve the quality of the referees,” Hester said.
“Another is to get uniformity in their interpretations of the Laws of the Game.”
The FIFA/OFC Refereeing Course ran from 24-27 September, 2013 at Teouma Academy in Port Vila.
For more on Vanuatu football go to www.vanuafoot.vu

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