National football referees urged to prove credibility
KUALA LUMPUR:Former Asia Football Confederation (AFC) elite referee Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh has urged local referees to carry out their duties responsibly so that their credibility on the field is not questioned.
As such, the 53-year-old, who is also the technical instructor for referees with the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has encouraged national referees to prepare well, both physically and mentally, for the Malaysia Cup matches slated for early next month.
According to the former national referee, early preparations in terms of deep understanding of the sport and the ability to read matches could prevent referees from making dubious decisions and losing control of the games that they preside over.
The former chairman of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) referees committee said being unprepared would cause unnecessary stress to the referees which could potentially influence their judgments on the field.
“An unprepared referee would often feel anxious thinking what should be done during a particular match,” Subkhiddin told Bernama.
“Referees should have knowledge about the matches that they are assigned to, the style of play of both teams, current positions (and) game records,” he said adding that having this input would allow the referee to make better and more informed decisions.
Speaking about game reading ability, he said referees should be smart enough to predict incidents based on the intensity of the particular match, while stressing that on-field positioning was key to a referee making a correct call.
Shedding light on the matter, Subkhiddin said oftentimes referees made wrong judgments when they were oblivious to the incidents that happened on the pitch as they were not in the right position.
Subkhiddin also encouraged national referees to be more creative by studying matches online during the current Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) to prepare themselves for the upcoming Malaysia Cup matches.
Mounting dissatisfactions among football fans towards the lack of quality of local refereeing had forced the FAM to employ professional referees from Japan to preside over FA Cup matches during the previous football season.
Misjudgments and negligence by referees in this year's Malaysian League matches have also shown that the standard of refereeing among local referees leaves much to be desired.
Refusing to put the blame entirely on national referees, Subkhiddin admitted that these referees were mostly part-timers who are not professionally accredited.
Subkhiddin stressed that the FAM referees committee should take on the responsibility to help the referees to be more professional, so that they would think less of being tired or about payment issues, and focus purely on the match itself.
Recently the committee suspended four referees while four others were given stern warnings due to the inconsistency of their performance while officiating Malaysia League matches. Bernama