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Simie Willter, in black, officiates a Budweiser
Soccer League match. Willter currently is participating in a FIFA
Futuro III Refereeing Instructor Course in China. (courtesy photo)

PRESS RELEASE – At one point in Rhoda Bamba’s life, she dreamed of officiating soccer matches at the highest level of the sport. Although circumstances prevented her from realizing her dream, Bamba still would like to assist local referees, in any way she can, to achieve the coveted FIFA-level status.

Bamba, along with fellow local referees Simie Willter and Eladio Manansala currently are in China participating in a FIFA Futuro III Refereeing Instructor Course with other referees from the region. The program consists of two courses – the Referee Technical Instructor Course and the Referee Physical Instructor Course, the AFC Web site states. Bamba and Willter joined 19 other course participants in the technical course and are two of only four women. Manansala is one of nine participants in the physical course.

“I want to gain insight on approaches of how to best teach the Laws of the Game to new referees or even tenured referees who still may have questions,” said Bamba, who has been a local referee for over 15 years. “I’m expecting the course to really demonstrate the nuts and bolts of refereeing – a course to enhance what I already know about officiating from experience and how to pass on that knowledge to other referees.”

The FIFA Futuro III Referee Instructor Courses are “aimed at developing the instructional skills of instructors actively involved in teaching in their member associations. Such courses use a regional format and instructors from neighboring countries are trained at a centralized venue,” the AFC Web site states. The courses are continuously updated to reflect the evolving nature of the world’s sport, providing the most advanced techniques in teaching the sport’s Laws of the Game. Upon completion of the course, participants will have learned methods to best educate their respective local referees for further development to effectively raise the level of officiating in the region.

Eladio Manansala, in yellow, officiates a Budweiser
Soccer League match. Manansala currently is participating in a FIFA
Futuro III Refereeing Instructor Course in China. (courtesy photo)

Instructors for the current courses in China are FIFA Senior Refereeing Development Manager Fernando Treasco Garcia, AFC Referees Director Yoshimi Ogawa, FIFA/AFC Referee Instructors Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh, Hany Taleb BS Safar and Mohd Rodzali Yacob. Fitness instructors are Toshio Utsumi and Supian Ahmad Khalidi. Yacob also is a FIFA Referee Development Officer. Yacob, along with Salleh and Khalidi, administered a FIFA Referee Course in Guam in December 2012.

“There are two key elements for this course – one is for the national instructors responsible for the top referees and assistant referees in the (member associations), and the other one is those under the ‘teach the teachers philosophy,’” Garcia said in a news release. “In short, (course participants) are really the key persons to improve the referees in your (member associations).”

Bamba, Willter and Manansala were selected by Guam Football Association to attend the current course. The opportunity also had been provided to other local referees – including George Stewart who has attended multiple times, and Brett Maluwelmeng and Sung Chan Hong who both attended last year’s course.

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