Referees Department E-Newsletter 1st Quarter 2018 FIFA Referees Representation 1. Toyota Mekong Club Championship 2017 The Toyota Mekong Club Championship is a football tournament among teams from Mekong countries initiated by Toyota Motor Asia Pacific (TMAP) since 2014 under the Toyota Mekong Football Project (TMFP). The project was initiated by Toyota to show their support for the development of football in the Mekong countries. Toyota aims to enrich the lives of the communities in the Mekong region, including Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam by making football more accessible to the young and old, aspiring football players and sports fans. The Final match (2nd Leg) of the Mekong Club Championship was held on 6th January 2018 between Muangthong United FC from Thailand and Sanna Khanh Hoa FC from Vietnam where the former triumph in aggregate 7 – 1 to clinch the title. The finals of the tournament saw our FIFA match officials Sukhbir Singh, Nathan Chan, Lim Kok Heng and Abdul Hannan officiating it for the first time. Referees Department 2. AFC U-23 Championship 2018 The 2018 AFC U-23 Championship (also known as the 2018 AFC U-23 Asian Cup) was the third edition of the AFC U-23 Championship, the biennial international age-restricted football championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 national teams of Asia. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament which took place between 9–27 January 2018 hosted by China. The next edition of the championship will serve as a qualifier to the Japan Olympics in 2020. Uzbekistan defeated Vietnam in the final to win their first title. Japan were the defending champion in the previous edition, but failed to defend the title after losing to Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals. In this 2018 Championship, we were honoured to have FIFA Referee Muhammad Taqi and Assistant Referee Ronnie Koh to be among the officials selected for the first time in this tournament. This edition saw the first time the Additional Assistant Referees (AAR) being used for all the matches. Semi-Final match between Qatar and Vietnam Referees Department Pre-tournament seminar was essential as AFC prepares the referees, assistant referees and the additional assistant referees (AAR) intensively, physically and technically for the tournament. Integrated practical training sessions with on field players simulating incidents in the game provides the match officials a platform to officiate the practice match with the AAR. They obtained instant feedback from the technical instructors for further improvement before the commencement of the tournament matches. Extreme cold weather conditions at the hosting country was among the challenges the match officials faced. Training and matches were held at temperatures below zero degree Celsius and match officials had to acclimatized to the condition quickly. The referees were also tested with the Dynamic Yo-Yo test while the assistant referees ran the ARIET test to gauge on their fitness level. Referees Department 3. King’s Cup 2018 The 2018 Annual King's Cup Football Tournament, which is in the 46th edition, was Cup, the annual international men's football tournament organised by Football Association of Thailand. It was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 22 to 25 March 2018. As hosts, Thailand participated automatically in the tournament; they were joined by the African team Gabon, the Asian team United Arab Emirates and the European team Slovakia. Our FIFA match officials were invited to officiate and gain exposure from the tournament. FIFA Referee, G. Letchman, and FIFA Assistant Referee, Abdul Hannan, officiated the match between Thailand and Gabon where the former won 4-2 during the kicks from penalty mark. Referees Department Referees Development 1. Laws of the game & Referees Refresher Workshop Referees Department with the support from the AFC & AFF qualified local technical instructors conducted two sessions (3 & 4 February 2018) to all referees from National Level up to Class 3 to provide them on the latest updates to the Laws of the Game. Additionally, theoretical key topics such as penalty area incidents, offside situations, positioning & movement were covered by the instructor, Mr Jeffrey Goh, to sharpen and deepen their understanding. Approximately close to 100 referees attended the two days workshop for their benefits in officiating future matches and also to have the correct and consistent interpretation among all. Sessions were appealing and insightful as plenty of questions were raised and discussed among the referees. Referees Department 2. Referees Promotion Exercise and Registration Fitness Test 2. Referees Development Programme 2018 Weekly fitness training sessions were conducted by fitness instructor T Aravinthan, whoEver hassince been the guiding referees the development junior referees was inlaunched their physical in 2012, fitness the identified preparation potential and development.referees have These made sessions,continuous scheduled progression twice towards a week the at upperYio Chu ranks. Kang The and fifthAng Mobatch Kioof refereesITE Central, participated have been in thecrucial ref erees’in developing development the fitness initiatives level withof the the junior objective refereesof develop especiallying their potentialfrom thes categoryand talents class in 2achieving and 3 referees. better physical As the andsessions technical were openaspects to everyone,in their match fitness performances. instructor T Aravinthan, who also steered the FIFA Referees and Assistant Referees registration fitness test, is optimistic and confident that more referees will attend the fitness sessions to improve and maintain their fitness level. The referees in the programme were put through a series of theoretical, laws of the game trivia and fitness training sessions. They will also be assessed in their matches and physical fitness in the later part of the year. An introduction and briefing session was conducted on 7 February 2018 for this group of referees. Referees Department 3. Referees Basic Course The first Referees Basic Course for 2018 was conducted from 15 to 18 March. A total of 28 male and four female participants signed up for the four-days course and were put through theoretical and practical sessions by qualified technical instructors. The opening session which was graced by FASRC Chairman, Mr Lim Tong Hai, emphasized on the importance of understanding football refereeing, correct interpretation and application of the Laws of the Game. The latest laws of the game amendments were also emphasized by the instructors and participants were assessed with theoretical and physical fitness test at the end of the course. Referees Department 4. SPL Referees Pre-Season Preparatory Workshop Singapore Premier League (SPL) Referees attended the two days’ pre-season workshop on the 24th & 25th March 2018 at Jalan Besar Stadium. The workshop which consists of theoretical and practical training sessions mainly focuses on the situations and scenarios related to the new amendments of the Laws of the Game. The referees were assigned to individual groups for clips discussion and were then invited to do a presentation on their decisions for the match situations provided. Referees Department The Burning Passion My Refereeing Journey Muhammad Syarqawi Bin Buhari started refereeing in 2009 at a tender age of 19 years old when he took up the referees’ basic course. Under the guidance of Mr PT Murthi back then, he received plenty of opportunities to showcase his refereeing capabilities and was able to progress through the refereeing ladder. His first S League experience was on 3 March 2012 between Hougang United FC and Geylang United FC - the match was refereed by Mr Abdul Malik. It was not all smooth sailing for him, having to juggle National Service commitments and studies during that period, he had to give up plenty of refereeing opportunities. However, remaining optimistic and continuous hard work allowed him to achieve his refereeing goal - to be a FIFA Assistant Referee. Syarqawi participated in the UEFA CORE Programme 2013 held in Nyon, Switzerland. The course was beneficial in enhancing the referees’ capabilities and subsequently awarded with Diploma in Assistant Refereeing by UEFA. His team of trio was provided with the opportunity to officiate two matches in Switzerland and France. The experiences enabled him and his team to engage with referees from different culture and learned from the notable instructors such as Mr Nicola Rizzoli (2014 World Cup final referee) and Mr David Elleray (Technical Director of IFAB). Referees Department The outgoing official has been to several countries and his first overseas tournament in 2014 was at the Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy in Brunei Darussalam. He was also involved in the Barclays Asia Trophy in 2015 and the recent International Champions Cup in 2017 where the FIFA referees were exposed to experience high levelwhere of footballthe FIFA displayed by the renowned teams. With the demand in his personal and work commitments, he decided to withdraw himself from the FIFA list at the end of 2017 to focus more on his obligations. Though it was a short stint in his role as a FIFA Assistant Referees, his passion to contribute to the refereeing fraternity certainly never ends. The current National referee will still be involved in the professional league and continue to contribute his experiences to the younger referees. “Always train hard to keep yourselves fit because fitness is ultimately the