Teenaged referee Nicholas Murray says there were several benefits for local referees coming out of the recent FIFA Referees Assistance Programme hosted at the Ato Boldon Stadium last week.Over 30 officials were exposed to extensive training in theory and practical by regional FIFA Referee Development Officers Ramesh Ramdhan and Peter Prendergast. Eighteen-year-old Murray was the youngest participant."It was a great learning experience. We were made more aware of several things that we didn't know of before this course," said Murray, son of local sport enthusiast and commentator Colin Murray.
"It was really eye opening with all the information and practical training we were exposed to. And receiving all of this from persons like Ramesh Ramdhan and Peter Prendergast has been tremendous especially when you consider that these are role models to me. I would want to emulate them by reaching the highest possible stage which is the Word Cup. The most important element we were exposed to was match management skills and how to deal and treat with players and incidents when you are on the field. We were exposed to real situations that take place via video analysis and other similar exams," added Murray.
He has already officiated at the local League level and is aspiring to his international debut within the next couple years which Ramdhan and Prendergast are confident can occur as they have predicted at least 7–10 referees from T&T on the FIFA panel within the next five years.
"Honestly I totally enjoy refereeing. There's the saying that you have to love what you do and I thoroughly love this, just being involved in the sport and be able to be part of what happens out there," Murray ended.
Dwight among stars for match against poverty
Dwight Yorke joined a star-studded team including the likes of Didier Drogba, Zinedine Zidane and Brazilian Ronaldo for a UNDP "Match against Poverty" in Hamburg's IMTECH Arena on Tuesday. Yorke was part of the Zidane, Ronaldo and friends team. They beat another all-star team from Hamburger Sport-Verein (HSV) 5–4.
The game drew a capacity crowd and is expected to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for this year's focus-tackling the ongoing food crisis across the Horn of Africa.Before the game, Zidane stressed that the match was "much more than a game, it is part of the global fight against poverty."
Revenue from the eight previous matches against poverty has benefited projects in more than 27 developing countries, including recent recovery efforts in the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and Pakistan floods. It also aims at supporting measures within the UN's Millennium Development Goals: eight internationally acknowledged objectives for defeating extreme poverty by 2015
Other stars included Luís Figo, Pavel Nedved, Serginho, Christian Karembeu Zé Roberto, Anthony Yeboah, Georghe Hagi, Claude Makélélé and Fabio Cannavaro. Yorke was the only player from CONCACAF in the line up.
De Four, La Foucadepraise TTFF festival
National Women's Under-17 team head coach Stephan De Four and local coach Dion La Foucade both believe that there is need for more one-day festivals similar to the one for girls hosted by the TTFF in conjunction with Atlantic LNG at the Marvin Lee Stadium on Tuesday.Several girls from local primary schools had the chance to interact, receive coaching tips and play in front of national coaches and senior team players for over five hours at the Macoya venue. This was an initiative of women's coach and TTFF coaching instructor Marlon Charles and Atlantic LNG were on board, already having a previous relationship through their sponsorship of the Primary Schools League.
"It was an excellent initiative to have something like this because it meant that we as coaches had a chance to see some of the talent that is coming up and the girls themselves had the opportunity to play and interact with each other and our national players," said De Four.La Foucade added: "I was privileged to be asked to be part of this and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm accustomed dealing with the kids in this age group but what I saw here today was fantastic and is definitely something that can continue over time which will aid in the development of the younger kids. This is definitely something the Federation can take a plus from and now use as a way of identifying and nurturing the talent from the primary school level."
TTFF youth development officer Anton Corneal indicated that a similar exercise will be held for the boys in 2012.
Gill enjoys Tobagobeach football
World popular beach football player Oscar Gill says his team's recent success at the BagoSports Beach Football tournament at Turtle Beach, Tobago was an experience he and his team-mates will definitely be looking to relive next year.Gill and his Florida Beach FC captured the US$10,000 first prize with a 5–3 win over Stokely Vale last month with Gill netting the winner and scoring 16 goals in six matches. Francis Farberoff, Frank Velasquez and Luis Henrique Pinto also contributed to the championship effort.
"My team-mates made it possible," said Gill, whose team will close out the year playing in the Clearwater Beach Soccer tournament next weekend. "It makes it easier when you are surrounded by great players like we have. The tournament and the experience itself in Tobago was a great one for us and we're definitely hoping to return for it again next year."
Gill and teammate Francis Farberoff are both US National beach football team members.BagoSports representative Kyle Lequay said that teams from Europe and Central America have expressed an interest in appearing in the 2012 edition of the tournament.
CFU sets uplegal task force
The Caribbean Football Union has set up a Legal Task Force as it attempts to thrash out the constitutionality of the body.According to Jamaican Football Federation General Secretary Horace Reid, who is a member of the Task Force, the CFU now stands in a position to recover from its recent woes."The countries of the CFU now have a glorious opportunity to contribute to the reform and modernisation of the Union and history demands that we take full advantage of this moment in the best interest of Caribbean and regional football," said Reid.
According to the Jamaica Observer, the special task force is a working group that will critically look at reviewing and making recommendation regarding the CFU Constitution; assessment of legal structures of the organisation-executive, administrative, affiliation; registration of the entity Caribbean Football Union; interim measures for the administration and operation of the CFU and any other recommendations which are "pertinent and useful to the objectives of the group".Other members of the group are Cayman Islands FA president Jeff Webb, St Kitts & Nevis FA president Anthony Johnson, Maurice Victoire of Martinique Football League, Bermuda FA president Larry Mussenden, Cayman Islands FA general secretary Bruce Blake and Emmanuel Cantave of the Haitian FF.
"The future of the CFU hangs in the balance and its resuscitation and revitalisation is contingent on the quality and sincerity of efforts during this interim period and ahead of any Congress. The Congress of the CFU is the supreme body and is responsible for approving all changes to its Statutes and Structures," Reid cautioned.The working group will be responsible of coming up with resolutions for presentations to be made at the CFU presidents' meeting set for FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland on December 20 and 21, where FIFA president Sepp Blatter secretary general Jerome Valcke are expected to be in attendance.
Shaun Fuentes is the media officer for the Soca Warriors/TTFF.