Young soccer players invited to referee training
“We groomed two young referees but, because they loved playing soccer, they decided to follow that route and abandoned refereeing.”
KwaThema – The South African Football Association (Safa) is calling on soccer teams affiliated to the Springs Local Football Association to recommend players who are interested in being trained as junior referees.
The interested players have to be between the ages of 15 and 20 and must be from Kwatsaduza.
Referee Mzwakhe Dlongolo says they have identified the need to train younger referees in the area.
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“We groomed two young referees but, because they loved playing soccer, they decided to follow that route and abandoned refereeing.”
The referee says they are also concerned about the number of current referees who are growing older.
“Most of our experienced older referees are often assigned to referee other league games outside the area, and the local matches suffer as a result of this.
“We are then expected to seek the assistance of coaches to referee the matches.”
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“To close this gap, we have decided to train and groom young players for the future of refereeing in the area.”
Dlongolo says the meeting will be held at the football association’s offices at the KwaThema Sports Complex on Monday at noon.
