THE Guyana Football Federation (GFF) recently held a Beginners’ Refereeing Course in Linden from Friday September 1 to Sunday September 3 at the Mackenzie High School Auditorium, where there were two days of classroom and one practical outdoor session.

Some 19 aspirant referees attended this introductory course according to Head of the Refereeing Body in the Upper Demerara region Mr. Abdulla Hamid, who noted that the GFF conducted this basic course using Head of GFF’s Referees Department Mr. Lenval Peart and instructors Mr. Abdulla Hamid, Ms. Natasha Lewis and Mr. Sherwin Johnson.

Hamid in an exclusive interview told Chronicle Sport: “The GFF had launched a programme to develop referees around the country so we started in New Amsterdam in June and then shifted to Linden. The Linden introductory course was a pretty well organised course, it was good; we saw 19 participants attending and this was through the drive of developing young male and female referees to be part of refereeing to develop the game especially in Linden and around Guyana.”

According to the former FIFA official “This programme is one that would enable young men and women reach to the highest level once they are committed.
Once we have 98 per cent pass from this course it means we can see a vast development for refereeing in and around Guyana. This 2023 Beginners’ Course was pretty much an eye opener because there is a shortage of referees in Linden and the rest of Guyana because a lot of the referees here in Guyana are aging and FIFA, CONCACAF and CFU are looking for younger referees and putting them at the international standards.”

“In my time, FIFA Referees used to be going to Under 14, 15 tournaments and then move on FIFA is going for the Under 14 Challenge where the Under 14 tournaments now are seeing young referees that have potential, you don’t have to be in your late 20s you can be there before; once you have the potential say 16, 17, 19 years old you get the opportunity to go to these tournaments and continue going until you reach the age that they can recommend you to get to the FIFA Referees,” Hamid reported.

From those who participated 21-year-old Mr. Jeremiah Cummings topped the course and Hamid indicated: “So the guy who that topped the course was 21-year-old Jeremiah Cummings, all eyes are on him. So we have to fast track him and get him in football as fast as possible so we can push him out to be exposed and you can see, maybe in a year or two, he can make it to the FIFA list.

The only current Linden FIFA recognized officials are Mr. Shavin Green and Ms. Denisha Isaacs while another nationally recognised referee Ms. Kenesha Prescott, who is a vastly improved upcoming official went to the Challenge 14 Under tournament in Antigua this year and performed excellently as everybody from CFU and CONCACAF are excited about her.