GFF-RAP capacity building underway

Aug 30, 2018 Sports

Sitting from left, Peter Prendergast, Wayne Forde, Wilson Toledo and Stanley Lancaster pose for a photo with the participants of the RAP.

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) / FIFA Refereeing Assistance Programme (RAP) commenced yesterday at the Conference Room of Critchlow Labour College, Woolford Avenue. Proceeding the in-house session was an opening ceremony with remarks from GFF’s President, Wayne Forde and Peter Prendergast, FIFA’s Technical Instructor and facilitator of the session.
The RAP is a capacity building programme which seeks to create uniformity among referees and enable same to meet the demands of the game. This year, the programme will feature some 35 referees being a part of the sessions which are usually both classroom and field based with a fitness test being scheduled for today at the National Track and Field Centre (NTFC), Leonora.
Pendergrass noted before the start of the programme that the new Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will not be covered in the during the five-day training since it will not be coming to the CFU anytime soon.
The facilitator noted that off the field behavior is very important because, “If you’re not fit, focused and fair then you will not get the opportunity to go on the pitch. Whenever you are on the streets of Guyana or overseas, you never know who is watching, so it’s important to stay disciplined.”
Meanwhile, President Forde hailed the officials for their commitment to the game despite the challenges, “There are 22 passionate people on a football field who are willing to abandon every rule in order to carve out a win and in order to do that consistently for 90 minutes sometimes 120, no one should envy you for that.” Forde further stated that people who do the most are often least recognised, in reference to the