Five local referees have been selected on the FIFA panel for 2014. The five officials, including experienced men’s referee Neil Brizan and assistant referee Cindy Mohammed, were recently presented with their FIFA badges at the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) head office, Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain.
The other officials are women’s referee Cecile Hinds and assistant referees Caleb Wales and Ainsley Rochard. With their appointments to the FIFA panel, they are in line for appointments for international matches.
Former FIFA World Cup referee Ramesh Ramdhan, who is also head of the TTFA Referees department, called on the five officials to be role models to their fellow local referees.
“Five is a good start but of course we want to have even more local referees on the FIFA panel,” Ramdhan stated.
“You as referees are in this position because of your hard work and willingness to learn and to carry out your duties in the right way. But you have to take it a step further and carry yourselves as examples to others. What I want is for these FIFA referees to know that they are the top referees in the country and you represent Trinidad and Tobago. The younger referees must be able to emulate you. The others must be able to see your standard. For too long referees did not think that they had a responsibility to do this,” he added.
“I also plan this year, based on requests, to get more active in the actual training of referees and I am looking forward to this. This is all with the aim of raising the standard of our referees which will in turn have a positive effect on the game locally,” Ramdhan said.
TTFA president Raymond Tim Kee congratulated the five officials.
“These referees carry the country’s title Trinidad and Tobago and the national flag every time their name shows up at a match, whether it be on a document or on the television screens. And like players and other officials, they play a very important role in the game. Referees are in charge of a football game and therefore we need to ensure our officials are properly trained so they can run a match in the right manner. I am quite pleased about these five appointees and I hope we can continue to produce even more in the future.”