Referees Department E-Newsletter
1st Quarter 2017
FIFA Referees Representation
1. International U-21 Thanh Niên Newspaper Cup
The International U-21 Thanh Niên Newspaper Cup is an annual football tournament held in Vietnam. The tournament was officially launched in 2007 by Thanh Niên News in cooperation with the Vietnam Football Federation, with the aim of improving youth football in Vietnam. In addition to improve the quality of football, the tournament also serves to develop referees locally and around the region.
FIFA Referee Farhad Mohd was among the representation of match officials from Singapore for the 2 weeks’ tournament which was held in the end of December 2016. With his positive performances in the tournament, he was subsequently selected to officiate the final between Yokohoma U-21 and Thailand U-21 where the former triumphs to be the champion of the tournament. In addition, Farhad Mohd was nominated as the best referee of the tournament.
Referees Department
2. Referees Memento Award
FIFA Assistant Referee, Mr. Jeffrey Goh Gek Pheng, was presented with the AFC Referees Memento Award in January and honoured by the FAS in last February in conjunction with the S & Prime League pre-competition debriefing. The award celebrated his endeavours throughout the years of service, dedication and hard work to the sport. Jeffrey Goh, 46, became a FIFA Assistant Referee in 2006 and was registered as FAS Class 3 referee back in 1997. He has been a role model especially to the young referees on his commitment, perseverance and determination throughout his 11 years as a FIFA Assistant Referee. Jeffrey has won the S.League Assistant Referee of the year award for four time with the recent accolade in 2014. Throughout his refereeing career, he officiated high profile matches internationally and was selected to be part of the refereeing trio for the 2011 and 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar and Australia respectively. The pinnacle point of his refereeing journey was in 2010 when he was specially selected for the World Cup Finals in South Africa.
Jeffrey Goh receiving his memento from FAS President of the Provisional Council, Mr. Lim Kia Tong
Referees Department
With his invaluable experiences for the refereeing fraternity, Jeffrey will be contributing his role as an assessor and instructor to the FAS referees’ fraternity.
Jeffrey Goh, 7th from the top left, receiving the AFC Referees Memento Award last January.
Referees Department
Referees Development
1. Updates on the Laws of the Games Amendments The 130th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of The International Football Association Board (IFAB) took place in Cardiff on 5 March 2016. The amendments to the Laws of the Game approved at this meeting, as well as all other important decisions taken, are being listed in the meeting agenda. The AGM approved the comprehensive revision of the Laws of the Game undertaken by the IFAB Technical Subcommittee. This is the most extensive revision of the Laws in The IFAB’s 130-year history. The changes take into effect from 1 June 2016 onwards.
Referees Department with the support from the AFC & AFF qualified local technical instructors conducted two sessions (31 December 2016 & 11 January 2017) to all referees from National Level up to Class 3 to update them on the latest amendments to the Laws of the Game. There were a total of 93 modifications to the Laws of the Game and it is crucial to keep them informed of the new changes of the Laws which will take effect for all matches in the new season of 2017. Both sessions were insightful as many questions were raised and discussed among all the referees in order to have the correct and consistent interpretation for everyone.
Referees Department
2. S. & P. League Referees Pre-Season Preparatory Workshop Referees pre-season preparatory workshop was scheduled on 14th and 15th of January 2017 at Jalan Besar Stadium. A total of 35 S & P League referees attended the two days’ preparatory workshop. The workshop mainly focuses on the situations and scenarios related to the new amendments to the Laws of the Game and participants were assigned to individual groups for discussion clips. They were then invited to do a presentation on their decisions for the match situations in the respective clips.
The hot topics that were being discussed were conducted by the AFC & AFF referees’ instructors. They key topics were tactical fouls, offside situations, handball and penalty area incidents. With the numerous changes to the Laws of the game, it was crucial to ensure that all the S & P League referees have the similar and consistent understanding and interpretations. Guidelines and considerations were provided to the referees as a reference for their analysis on the match situations.
Referees Department
With the support from the NFA U-17 boys, a practical session was held on the second day of the workshop. This collaboration of assigned players and referees was very helpful and supportive in creating realistic scenarios in the game for the referees to make decisions and experience from it. The assistant referees were also able to obtain instant video feedback for offside situations and positioning during the training which was recorded by the technical instructors.
Photos above featuring referees’ practical session collaboration with the NFA boys and referee instructors’ who contributed to the success of the workshop.
Referees Department
3. FIFA Referees Engagement Session In 2017, there were a total of 13 registered men and 2 registered women FIFA Referees and FIFA Assistant Referees under the Football Association of Singapore. These referees played a key role in the list of registered referees in Singapore as they are being considered as the cream of the crop of referees in Singapore. As some of them are Elite AFC referees, they are constantly officiating top level AFC and FIFA matches and tournaments.
Referees department has conducted several engagement sessions with the FIFA referees with the objectives of cultivating generative conversations to understand their situation and expectations at that level which was recently held on 23rd January 2017 at the NFA Building, Jalan Besar Stadium. Being the ambassadors of FAS and Singapore, the FIFA referees are the role models to the younger referees and their contribution in developing the national referees who aspire to be a FIFA referee in future is important and essential.
A mentor and mentee programme was initiated where a group of 4 to 5 junior referees will be attached to a FIFA referee who will be their mentor. The objectives of this programme is to develop and inspire these referees to achieve greater heights. There are strategies that were brought up in realizing those goals mainly fitness programme, technical skills ability, Laws of the Game understanding and periodic evaluation of the referees. This is a yearlong programme and the mentees will be scheduled to attempt the fitness test and laws of the game test along the way. FIFA Referee (Men) FIFA Asst. Ref. FIFA Referee FIFA Asst. Ref. (Men) (Women) (Women) Muhammad Taqi Edwin Lee Abirami Naidu Rohaidah Nasir Sukhbir Singh Lim Kok Heng Jansen Foo Ronnie Koh Ahmad Aqashah Ong Chai Lee Nathan Chan Muhammad Syarqawi G Letchman Manoj Kalwani Abdul Hanan
Referees Department
4. FAS Project Talent 2016 Engagement & Graduation
FAS Project Talent was launched in 2012 and this is the 4th batch of referees that participated in this referees’ development initiatives. The objective of the project is to develop potential and talented young referees from the different refereeing category of classes with regards to their physical and technical aspects in order to attain and officiate higher level matches at the local and international arena.
FAS Project Talent Referees & FIFA Referees at the Sports & Practical Nutrition Talk for football referees from Sports Singapore during one of their programme schedule in 2016.
Referees Department
Referees are being selected based on the criteria stipulated and put through a series of theoretical, practical and fitness sessions throughout the year-long programmes. Upon the completion of the fitness tests and match assessments, they were then considered to have completed the entire course of the project. An engagement and graduation session was presented to the 4th batch of FAS Project Talent on 25 January 2017.
Mr. T. Aravinthan, fitness instructor offering encouragement and motivational words to the participants whom will be involved in the S & Prime League this season.
Among the 12 graduated participants receiving mementos as an appreciation for their commitment and hard work.
Referees Department
6.5. FAS Referees WorkshopAssessor Pre -Season Workshop
Referees development would not be a success without the support from the referee assessors who plays a key role in the continuity of the referees in achieving consistency and high standards of refereeing be it locally and internationally.
There’s never an end to learning and for the men-in-black, it’s critical to take stock of the latest amendments in the Laws of the Game and interpret it correctly. In view of the preparation for the new season of the S & Prime League 2017, a workshop for the referee assessors was held on the evening of 24 January 2017 for the latest technical developments in the Laws and the art of refereeing for top referees.
FIFA & AFC Referee Technical Instructor, Mr John Chia, conducting the FAS pre- season referee assessors’ workshop and debriefing.
S.League and Prime
League assessors including some of the FIFA Referees
participated in the session to upgrade themselves in the
latest amendments to the Laws of the Game and Referee
Assessment processes.
Referees Department
6. FAS Referees Pre-Season Preparatory Workshop 19th and 26th Feb
Refereeing development is very significant not only for the top referees who are involved in S & Prime League but also the grassroots and junior referees in the refereeing hierarchy as their growth and advancement in refereeing knowledge is equally essential. With the concept of moving towards modern refereeing, referees understanding of the game is beyond the Laws of the Game knowledge. The one-day workshop involves group discussion, analysis of match situations, presentation of video clips and findings.
The workshop was conducted by our own local referee assessors and instructors with AFC accreditation and experiences namely, Mr Abdul Malik, Mr Jeffrey Goh, Mr N. Santhan and Mr Tang Yew Mun. With their vast and wealthy experiences from local and international matches, participants benefited from their presentation as they were able to relate the situations with live match experiences.
Referees involve in group discussions on several match situations, applying and interpreting in accordance with the latest amendments to the Laws of the Game.
Referees Department
7. Launching of the Mentor and Mentee Programme 2017
A mentor and mentee programme was launched this year on 2nd March between the FIFA Referees and potential younger referees with the objective of learning, training, develop and sharing of experiences between them. With the attachments and connections between them, this will enable them to understand the challenges and expectations required as they progressed up the refereeing ladder in the aspects of refereeing fitness and technical.
Head of Referee, Mr K. Visva Nathan at the opening ceremony addressing to the participants.
Referees Department
Mentees are being divided into cluster and geographical location with their mentors. They will be regularly communicating with the mentees, participate and share fitness training methods in line with recommendation from the FIFA fitness programme. This will enable them to acquire new fitness training programmes and at the same time guidance and advice from the mentors for further development. This project is part of the Referees Development Programme with the primary objective of continuous growth and progression of referees to the higher level in the future.
Mentors and mentees at the meet-up session of the programme.
Referees Department
8. Referees Basic Course
The first referees basic course for the year was conducted on 16th March 2017. The 4 days’ course consists of the introduction to the Laws of the Games application and interpretation. A total of 27 participants signed up for the basic course and were put through theoretical tests and physical fitness test as part of the course requirements. Upon meeting the requirements, the participants will then be put through practical assessments before being registered as a Class 3 Referee.
Participants sitting in for the Laws of the Game theoretical examination.
Referees Department
Tribute for Mr. Maidin Singah
A double tribute was honoured for the late refereeing icon Mr. Maidin Singah during the Asian Football Confederation Cup match between Tampines Rovers FC and Felda United and the S.League grand opening match between Tampines Rovers FC and Albirex Niigata FC at the national stadium. Mr. Maidin Singah, a former Secretary of the Referees Committee, was an active FIFA Referee from 1983 to 1989. Upon his retirement as a referee, he became a referee instructor and assessor and nurtured many younger referees, one of whom was his son Shamsul Maidin, who officiated at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. A mentor to many referees, Mr Maidin readily offered assistance and guidance to them and was well- liked by all.
A minute of silence as a mark of respect was held during the Charity Shield Match.
Referees Department
RefereesGrassroots in ChildrenAction Visit – An Introduction to Football
A visit by Pat’s School House on 23 March 2017 saw at least 82 children ranging Refereesfrom the age at thebetween SR Nathan 3 to 5 yearsCup Final old being 2017 introduced to football and refereeing as part of the programme by FAS Grassroots football department in its continuous i) Women’s Final match between NTU and ITE (3-1 in favour of ITE) development of building a strong foundation of grassroots for the future. In
supporting this effort, referees’ department has collaborated with them in sharing ii) Men’s Final match between NTU and Singapore Polytechnic (2-1 in the message of the roles of referees in a football match. favour of Singapore Polytechnic) This unique opportunity will give the children the chance to establish unique life
skills, leading a healthy lifestyle and learn positive character–building values such as good discipline, tolerance, respect and teamwork. With this visit, the children gain new experiences, skills and interest which may enable them to utilise it imminently.
Children performing some fun soccer drills and small-sided matches at the Jalan Besar Stadium pitch.
Referee whistle, Assistant Referee flag and referee equipment’s such as the yellow and red cards were being introduced to them.
Referees Department
Referees at the S & Prime League Matches
Referees Department
Referees at the Women’s Development Tournament 2017
Muhammad Taqi Aljaafari Referees Department [email protected]
Referees Department