The Referees Association of Ghana (RAG), Volta successfully ended a day’s refresher course for all female referees in the region.
The course which came off at the RAG-Volta Regional Office at the Ho Sports Stadium on Saturday, May 26 was to equip the female referees with the needed skills which would enhance their officiating in the male dominated profession.
The course was mainly to give the ladies full attention and emphasized on their challenges as their male counterparts mostly overshadow them in such courses when organised generally.
Vice Chairperson of the Referees Association of Ghana-Volta Region, and once FIFA Referee, Innocentia Agbavitor in her opening speech highlighted the importance of the course to the participants, believing it would serve the purpose for which it was executed.
It is said that knowledge is power, hence the decision to organise this course to polish talents and build the confidence level of our ladies before the second round of the women’s league.
This is supposed to be a two or three-day course but due to limited time given, we would use todays exercise as an experiment and at the end, I believe technical and physical capacities of both facilitators and participants would be enhanced, she added.
The first ever refresher course for the female referees saw 15 participants from across the region with 3 facilitators. Class one referees Solomon Mordey and Samuel Sukah who are the Regional Deputy Technical Instructor and Fitness Instructor respectively, took the ladies through the revised FIFA rules and scenarios with support from Central Zone, Ho Fitness Instructor and FIFA referee, Delight Alorbu.
There was time for the referees to also test their fitness level on the field as they prepare for the second round of the National Womens League and the start of the Regional Division Two League.
It is believed that female referees in the country need consistent refresher courses to improve on the level of officiating in Women Football in the country and also help them match up with or even do better than their male counterparts in order to gain promotion to FIFA level.
By: Davis Nii Attuquaye Clottey/voltaonlinegh.com