35 referees are currently undergoing a five-day FIFA Member Associations (MA) Elite Referees Course at Mpira Palace in Blantyre where, among others, are being trained on the use of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
This is the first time Malawi has had such an important training where referees will gain the knowledge of using modern technology when officiating football games.
Speaking after the official opening ceremony of the course, the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Chairperson of the Referees Committee, Patrick Kamanga said Malawi is privileged to have such an important course because the country only had two Referees trained to handle VAR.
“This program is very important because our Referees will benefit from this course. We have three phases which they are going through which are technical, physical and VAR and this will be done for the betterment of our football in Malawi.
“Referees are one of the important key stakeholders in the game and, unfortunately, others would think that a referee is a third party or remember a referee on a match day but with this kind of training, it shows that FAM is very serious to at least award capacity building to both referees and coaches because referees and coaches have to be on the same level when they are getting their training because these two are technical people in football and without the training, we cannot achieve anything,” he explained.
FIFA Instructor Mark Mzengo said this course will help Malawian referees to be on the same level as the rest of the referees in the world.
“Normally, we train all the referees in the world to be on the same level so if you leave a country without doing this course, it means that country is left behind and as we are taking through the training this week, we will make sure that Malawian referees are so well updated and trained to new concepts which FIFA and CAF have introduced,” he said.
On VAR training, the instructor said there is a requirement for all referees to know how to use VAR.
“There is a requirement that all referees, more especially at FIFA must be VAR compliant because referees who are not VAR compliant cannot be picked for international games. Malawi has taken a step ahead to make sure that referees in the country are trained for them to acquire the first step with the VAR and this course will run concurrently, more especially in the evening classes where we will make sure that all the referees are trained to the VAR,” he concluded.
FIFA Referee, Godfrey Nkhakananga and Pondamali Tembo are the only two referees to have attended a VAR training course in South Africa.
Nkhakananga said this training is an eye-opener to all Malawian referees.
“This course is of great importance for us as Malawian referees because we were lacking this opportunity. We have now been given a chance by COSAFA where it all started when we travelled to South Africa to attend this type of course. This body wants its members to also have this chance to impart VAR knowledge to its referees through member associations. As Malawi, we are going to benefit a lot,” he said.
He also revealed that there is a very big difference between normal refereeing and VAR refereeing because with human eyes, mistakes are inevitable but VAR comes in to fix the mistakes.
“Using VAR is very different from the normal refereeing. A referee can be well-equipped with the laws of the game, very fit but, not good enough because games can still end prematurely. With VAR, we know for sure that all the mistakes made by human eyes can be rectified by the machine so we need to know to use the VAR,” he explained.
Mzengo will be assisted by Ali Muhammad from Somalia.
Before the course, the referees went for the fitness test to determine if they were fit for the training.
Some of the notable referees undergoing the training are Easter Zimba, Mayamiko Kanjere, Mercy Kayira, Gift Chicco, Zebron Lengani, Nkhakananga and Mwayi Msungama just to mention a few.
