Referees in attendance

Thirty elite referees including 2 women and 28 men are undergoing 5-days of training at the Atlantic Hall at the Siaka Stevens Stadium in Freetown. The training course is organized by FIFA in collaboration with Sierra Leone Football Association(SLFA).
The training is facilitated by Jerome K. Damon, a FIFA and CAF instructor from South Africa. He is a veteran referee and officiated in the last World Cup. The second trainer is a Malawian fitness instructor, Mark Mzengo, who is a FIFA fitness instructor.
During the opening ceremony, Damon emphasized the significance of the training stating, “This will take Sierra Leonean referees to the standard of officiating FIFA and CAF matches.”
The course is organized to improve the standard of officiating in the country especially as the Sierra Leone Premier League is expected to start.

During the physical fitness test

According to one of the referees, Mohamed Juma Kamara, “The training is a blessing to the coaches. Since starting the training they have gained a lot from both the local and international experts.”
He said they have done the fitness training, which has put them in good shape. They are doing classroom match analysis where they have been divided into five groups and at end of the day they do exercises.
Kamara said he’s been refereeing for 10-years but has never refereed a FIFA match, which is his dream. The training will end on Friday 7th April 2017.
By Bernard Turay
Wednesday April 05,2017.