The need for technical development in the Oceania Football Confederation is becoming more important as senior teams from around the region make more appearances on the world stage.
So OFC Technical Director Jim Selby was delighted when former FIFA and English FA Referee Instructor, John Baker, arrived in Auckland last week thanks to a partnership between the FA and Oceania Football Confederation.
Baker – who provided match analysis for referee development at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany – will spend five weeks in New Zealand helping develop instructor programmes alongside OFC Technical Director Jim Selby.
Each course will not only help develop coaching and refereeing skills, but assist in developing important life competencies that will help meet and identify childrens needs.
“It was important to get a feel for the Oceania Football Confederation. There is no value in sitting behind a desk and writing generic courses. We have to show that football provides a learning opportunity for people and help them take on the broad ranges of needs when caring for children”, Baker said.
So far, Baker has been impressed by the willingness of people within the region to learn and take on board many of the key principles of football as an education tool.
Baker says refereeing courses should be geared toward classroom analysis but emphasised the importance of practical activities.
“Referees learn by refereeing, a classroom isn’t enough. We aim to take what people know and then build on it”, Baker said.