The course was run by Oceania’s FIFA Refereeing Assistance Programme (RAP) team and was led by referee development officer Massimo Raveino and referee instructor Neil Poloso.
It was held over two days at the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) academy complex in Honiara and included a practical session at Lawson Tama Stadium, where the participants assessed the performance of the match officials in the final of the Our Telekom National U-20 Championship.
Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) referee development officer Justin Mutukera is grateful to FIFA and OFC for arranging the course and is delighted with how things went.
“Solomon Islands now has 13 referee assessors that are qualified at the OFC level,” he says.
“There was only one in the past so this is a proud day for refereeing. I would like to thank the FIFA RAP team members for their hard work.”
Their successful completion of the course means the participants will now be able to operate as referee assessors in OFC-organised competitions, including the O-League.
A pair of referees from Papua New Guinea travelled to Solomon Islands to attend the course and were joined by 13 local participants.
The RAP team are remaining in the country to put on a FIFA follow-up elite refereeing course.
For more on Solomon Islands football visit www.siff.com.sb