The four-day course was attended by 24 participants and was facilitated by FIFA instructors Kader Touati, Ken Wallace and Shamsul Maidin, who had travelled down under from his native Singapore to take part.
Those involved hailed from a wide range of regions throughout New Zealand and had their knowledge of the laws of the game and the correct application of those laws finetuned with a series of theoretical and practical sessions.
The physical abilities of the participants were also measured during a stringent set of fitness tests led by Touati, who plays a key role in Oceania’s Refereeing Assistance Programme (RAP) as fitness trainer.
The presence of Maidin was of great benefit to the participants as he has a wealth of experience as a top-class match official to pass on. Since becoming a referee at the beginning of 1996, the 46-year-old has won both the 2005 and 2006 Asian Football Confederation official of the year, becoming the first Singaporean to achieve this honour.
He has also won the S.League – the top men’s professional league in Singapore – referee of the year award four times, including on three successive occasions from 1997. He announced his retirement in 2007 and began work with FIFA the next year as a referee instructor.
Maidin has travelled to Oceania in previous years to run similar courses and officiate in World Cup qualifying matches and was delighted to return to the confederation.
“I think it is so important to run courses like this throughout the world because it creates uniformity and consistency amongst all the countries,” Maidin says.
“It’s not easy being spread out across so many confederations and member associations. We are all officiating the same sport but don’t necessarily have the same uniformity. That’s why it’s so important globally that FIFA is assisting in such a way to ensure we can narrow the gaps between each other.”
Maidin says the aim of the FIFA MA course is two-fold.
“One is the technical aspect and the other is the physical,” he says. “On the technical part, we have theory sessions as well as practical sessions in the field of play. For the physical aspect, we have fitness tests and this is the area most participants find the most challenging.
“What we are looking to do is teach them about modern refereeing at a high level. Refereeing just at member association level is not really where we want them to be, we want to see them at the top level in the confederation and perhaps even at the top level within FIFA.”
Maidin is impressed by the standard of officiating in Oceania and believes the region has the potential to produce many world-class referees.
“You can definitely see that the referees have very good potential in this part of the world. If you look at New Zealand in particular, you have Peter O’Leary and Mike Hester, who both went to the last FIFA World Cup, and I see plenty of potential elsewhere with people like Norbert Hauata from Tahiti. I hope to see more Oceania referees at the top level because this will give them more opportunities to progress in their careers.”
OFC places high importance on developing world-class match officials and in 2008 referee development received a huge boost thanks to the introduction of the FIFA-funded Refereeing Assistance Programme. Under the umbrella of the FIFA Development Office, RAP is staffed by referee development officer Massimo Raveino, instructor Neil Poloso and Touati.
The programme has two objectives. Firstly, it aims to prepare referees for international competitions, particularly the FIFA World Cup. Secondly, it aims to develop referees in each of the member associations through scouting and education.
Proof that the initiatives are working can be seen in the increased level of representation for Oceania at international tournaments

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