BELADIN: The Sarawak Football Association (FAS) wants to extend the referee courses at the division level to produce more qualified referees.
Sarawak Referee assistant chairman Marsid Dahalan considered it a challenge to the FAS.
“In Sarawak, we have 11 national level referees while at the state level there are 240 people in all parts. “Therefore, FAS will focus at the division level and increase the number of courses in Betong and other parts,” he said when met by Suara Sarawak after the Level 3 Football Referee Course 2019 at the Dewan al-Amin here on Sunday.
Marsid was also responsible for training 21 participants from Betong, Pusa, Beladin, Bungin, Saratok and Debak and whose potentials were acknowledged by Captain (Rtd) Mohd Marzuki Hamsin.
“Duirng the three-day course, the participants have shown progress and improvement, both in theory and practical.
“They showed high commitment and can be given further exposure to handle football matches at schools or divisional level,” he said.
Meanwhile, the course coordinator Mohamad Shafizan Kepli described the referee course conducted here as an effort to provide accredited referees, especially from Beting Maro area and Betong Division.
“If you want to hold a competition, it wil face problems because there is not enough qualified referees. “We hoped that all the knowledge and skills imparted by the instructors can be utilised in future,” he said.
The inaugural state level referee course here was organised by Sarawak United National Youth Association (Saberkas) Beting Maro Branch in collaboration with the Sarawak Football Association (FAS) and Betong Division Football Association (BDFA).
Present to officiate the opening ceremony were Beladin village chief Mahbang Labek who represented Beting Maro Assemblyman Razaili Gapor and BDFA honorary secretary Saiful Hanizam Suhaini.