16 August 2018 – The South African Football Association’s aggressive approach to referee development continues next weekend in Kempton Park, as the Association continues on its Vision 2022 objective of unearthing and developing more referees, coaches and players.
The Association’s referee’s department will be bringing together 30 young referees who are currently active in the various SAFA Leagues between 22 and 26 September for a refereeing workshop to enhance and fine tune their officiating skills.
The 30 match officials who come from various parts of the country will convene on Wednesday, 22 August where they will be subjected to a fitness test before the workshop resumes the following day.
Speaking to SAFA.net, SAFA’s Head of Refereeing, Mr Tenda Masikhwa said the intention of the workshop was to have a closer look at the young referees and consider them for promotion to the higher leagues.
“We had a referee’s workshop with most of these referees earlier this year in April and we have since then closely monitored their progress in the various SAFA Leagues such as the Sasol, SAB and ABC Motsepe Leagues. We have called them back for further development and monitoring and if we are happy with what we see, we will refer them to the National Referees Committee for where a final call will be made on whether they are promoted or not” said Masikhwa.
SAFA’s increased efforts in referee development over the years has yielded incredible results with a number of the Association’s referees being assigned to major COSAFA, CAF and FIFA assignments. Zakhele Siwela impressively flew the South African flag at the recent FIFA World Cup in Russia while 22-year-old, Jelly Chavani is currently in Egypt for a five-day match officials seminar.