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FIFA launched its Referees Assistance Program (RAP) for Trinidad and Tobago at the Ato Boldon Stadium on Sunday at which thirty local referees will undergo training from Regional FIFA referee development officers Ramesh Ramdhan and Jamaican Peter Prendergast. The RAP Program has two key elements; Professionalizing Referee Administration at National Association levels and focusing on the development of Elite Referees in the World with unified standards and training.

Following FIFA’s new ruling  which stated that the member association (in this case the TTFF) take control of refereeing, with this taking effect in April, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation commenced training of referees and currently a batch of thirty-plus officials have been undergoing  sessions. The group includes some familiar faces that are on the FIFA panel such as Neil Brizan and Cindy Mohammed while there are new individuals undergoing preparation. The other FIFA officials still currently serving locally include Ainsley Rochard and Dion Neil while past FIFA officials including Michael Ragoonath, Jaggernath Goolcharan,  Lee Davis, FIFA fitness instructor Merere Gonzales and Linda Bramble are currently also involved in the training program. Krishna Kuarsingh, a  TTFF Vice President, is the chairman of the Referee’s Committee

At Sunday’s opening Ramdhan urged the new batch to embrace the opportunity being given to them and knocked the group of referees who have withheld their services because of an ongoing dispute with the TTFF over their move to operate under the new FIFA ruling.

“I hide nothing and I say everything to that needs to be said,” the ex-World Cup referee said at Sunday’s opening at the Ato Boldon Stadium.

“What is happening to Trinidad and Tobago refereeing can only be taken as a positive. Why would people who trained and left their homes many times before now withhold their knowledge and services for whatever reason and I can tell you there is no reason for them to do this,” stated Ramdhan who went onto explain what the FIFA statutes stated.

“I read the FIFA statutes with Peter Prendergast  again this morning  and I don’t understand what the referees who are not here are fighting over. The FIFA statutes states clearly that refereeing must be under the control of the member association and that was placed in the FIFA statutes from April 1 and was passed last year. It also stated no other organization, bodies or affiliates should run the business of refereeing anymore .

“All referees must register with the member association and those who fail to do so must not referee any football that is organized by or under the member association. In  other words they can only referee in the bush leagues. I don’t know what all the fuss is about. I am determined to work and get up to ten FIFA referees out of this bunch on the FIFA panel  over the next five years,” he added.

Ramdhan mentioned that the top referees worldwide have undergone training under the RAP program and that the programs were now far advanced as compared to his time as an active referee.

"The training now is far more informative and advanced and therefore you stand to benefit from this training.  Let those who want to withhold their services withhold it. They will train in their bedrooms. You are now part of  the elite group of referees in the country now and you will benefit from training programs such as this one.

"This program is here to stay. There is a lot of gain from refereeing. This is an opportunity that others are not willing to grasp.  Those referees have made way to you. We are all accessible and we will share every bit of information with you. We are here to serve football,” Ramdhan concluded.

Acting TTFF President Lennox Watson also urged the participants to take up the mantle.

“I am encouraging you to move on and move forward. I am seeing some familiar faces and some new ones and I feel elated about that. We have had plans to do this all along,’ Watson said.

“We had a mandate of FIFA to put in place a Referees committee but sadly the person we put at the head of the committee did not find favour with the local referees at the time and they decided that since there was a referees association that they should be taken by the TTFF and be made the referees committee but that could not happen. What we did was to put a number of the referees on our regional associations committee and they still not want to do this. The matter dragged on and then we opted for training new referees.

“ I was worried about how this would go but that is now behind us. This new bunch has been making progress and will continue to improve particularly with the advance training they will receive from here on. I am an administrator and I will support you. That support is to ensure that you get your courses, you are paid on time and you receive whatever is necessary to ensure that progress is made,” Watson told the participants.