NRA selects 498 referees for 2009/2010 season

This was disclosed to Trustsports yesterday by the president of the Nigeria Referees Association, Alhaji Ahmed Maude.He said before they were selected to officiate in the coming season, the referees were exposed to rigorous physical and mental fitness test. Maude noted that to get the best for the league, his association went a step further […]

This was disclosed to Trustsports yesterday by the president of the Nigeria Referees Association, Alhaji Ahmed Maude.He said before they were selected to officiate in the coming season, the referees were exposed to rigorous physical and mental fitness test.

Maude noted that to get the best for the league, his association went a step further to organize the recently concluded seminar which was attended by over four hundred referees.

The NRA president maintained that the referees body had done everything humanly possible to ensure that only the best were selected to officiate matches in the league and in other international competitions.

According to him, over six hundred referees attended the strenuous physical fitness test which was centrally done in Abuja but only four hundred and ninety eight have been found good enough to officiate in the 2009/2010 league.

“At least six hundred referees attended the physical fitness test we had in Abuja but in the end we had to settle for the best that we believe are good enough to provide quality officiating when the league commences”.

“In addition, we organized a seminar which was attended by the selected referees to freshen their knowledge of the laws of the game and also equip them with some of the latest developments as far as football refereeing is concerned” he explained.

He revealed that out of the four hundred and ninety eight referees selected for the 2009/2010 season, two hundred would officiate in the Globacom premier league while the remaining two hundred and ninety eight would be appointed to handle matches of the National League.

Furthermore, he also disclosed that attempts by the NPL to cut down the number of referees to eight was turned down by NRA because the two hundred referees selected for the premier league were arrived at after a thorough screening.

Meanwhile, Maude said the insinuations making the rounds that  all FIFA referees in the country were taxed ten thousand naira each before the seminar was organized were not true as he said part of the millions of naira that were used in organizing the seminar was raised from the seminar fees paid by only the 498 participants.