04 Apr 2017

Often when the phrase youth football development is used, one thinks only about the development of tomorrow’s playing stars.

However, Central South Regional Football Association (CSRFA) referee’s committee chairperson, Thapelo Lefu and colleagues decided to take a different route to nurture and develop futurel match officials.

In an interview, Lefu said the initiative was born after realising that most match officials in regional football were former players and were inducted in officiating at an older age.

Just like players, Lefu reckons it was important to develop match officials from a young age because it allowed for proper growth and exposure.

Planting a match officiating seed in youngsters, Lefu said, seemed an easier task as they were easy to monitor and educate unlike grownups who were already exposed to football ills like match fixing.

He advised other regions to develop their own as they would reap the fruits in the not so distant future.

Central South Region, he said, already had about 20 children being mentored and nurtured, but said the numbers were not enough.

He said challenges encountered was to attract children in large numbers since many aspired to be players.

He added that some parents were reluctant to let their children attend clinics because they felt match officiating was not ambitious enough like being a player, but said they often met with parents to explain that just as playing football kept children off the streets, so did match officiating.

Some children he said were torn between playing and officiating, but allowed them to do both as that would come in handy should they choose to continue playing because then they would have a better understanding of the laws of the game.

Lefu said currently they have a 15-year-old accredited official in Form 1 who officiated in CSRFA regional league games, adding that they were expecting the young aspiring match officials’ credentials to be put to the test during upcoming Under 15 and 17 tournaments slated Easter holidays in Mahalapye. ENDS