LOCAL FIFA Instructors/Assessors Stanley Lancaster, Abdullah Hamid and Trevor Beckles returned yesterday from participating at the FIFA Futuro 111 Course in Montego Bay, Jamaica for officials in the CONCACAF Region. The Course which ran from July 28 to August 2, allowed for the sport’s governing body to be updated on the progress of the officials from their member-associations within CONCACAF and also to go through the amended laws as well as to plan the way forward, catering for the expansion of referees in the regions.
According to Lancaster, there were no adjustments to the laws of the game, but an inclusion of ‘Return Substitution’ and the use of Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems (EPTS).
The ‘Return Substitution’ rule, which also caters to an unlimited amount of substitution, is only applicable and permitted in the lowest levels (grassroots and recreational) of football, subject to the agreement of the member associations concerned.
Lancaster, who also holds the portfolio of being Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) Head of Refereeing Department, said that the plan now is to host a similar course locally, to bring the Guyanese referees and local instructors/assessors abreast with the laws of the game. This, he said, will be done later this month.