The Refereeing Department and the Referees Committee of the Ghana Football Association have held a training program on Refereeing for players of the GFA ELITE ACADEMY.
This initiative was led by Alex Kotey, Head of Referees (GFA) and the Upper East Regional Football Association [RFA]. The Head of Referees paid a working visit to the Academy on 26th April 2024, where he met with the coaches and players of the Academy. The Training session was attended by the Upper East RFA Chairman, Alhaji Tinga Salifu Shaibu Zida and other members of the Upper East RFA.
The RFA Chairman, in a speech delivered as part of the Opening Ceremony for the training session, encouraged the players to take the opportunity offered them seriously since it was definitely going to impact positively on their future endeavours. He added that they should be disciplined and take their lessons in school also very serious.
Alex Kotey, on his part, took the players through the importance of including the Laws of the Game (LOTG) in their playing career. He told them that knowing the LOTG would make them better players and ensure that they stood out as being distinctly different from other players.
Mr. Kotey further gave the guidance on the mode that the training sessions would take. He indicated, for instance, that, after every 4 laws were treated by the Instructors, the players would write an Examination so that by the time they were done with all the seventeen (17) laws, they would have finished with the full complement of the Examination. The accumulative assessment model would be used to grade them, Mr. Kotey added.
It was also announced to the players that Certificates of Membership would be issued to them by the GFA and RFA upon completion of the course.
Players from the Elite Academy who complete the course successfully will occasionally be given opportunities to referee some school games to enable them practice practical refereeing from time to time.
One interesting and motivating feature of the training of players in the Elite Academy is that they would be classified under the GFA-RFA Catch Them Young refereeing policy so that any of the players who so desired could go on to pursue refereeing as a profession.
The Refereeing training offered players in the elite Academy is expected to give them a well-rounded and holistic football education in line with the GFA’s youth development strategy and football philosophy.