REFS SWITCH TO ONLINE COURSES

MBABANE – The COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak has forced local referees to seek alternative methods to keep themselves educationally up-to-date.

Normally, the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) would organise periodic courses to capacitate referees on modern trends. However, this cannot be the case following the outbreak of the coronavirus, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a global crisis. Usually, the EFA, through assistance from FIFA, would have instructors either from Europe or Asia who are tasked with facilitating the courses, which often last for a week.

As the world is at a standstill, local referees have opted to seek alternative methods to keep themselves updated with the ever-changing trends of the beautiful game. Top referee Mciniseli Sithole said as there were currently no courses provided, they have opted to use their social media platform, their WhatsApp group, to share video clips. “There is nothing much we can do except share clips in our WhatsApp group and there we discuss about it through the same platform,” said Sithole. The middleman further disclosed that a few weeks ago, they had to go for a physical fitness test at Somhlolo National Stadium but due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the exercise had to be put on hold.

Loved

Sithole added they had little to do as referees these days and highlighted that football was loved by almost everybody so without football, it felt like the world was at a standstill. “We stay at home and conduct individual trainings, this does not benefit us much as one cannot gain much when training alone,” said Sithole. He said life continues but the partial lockdown was a huge challenge not knowing what was right or wrong and the fact that they cannot meet other people. Celumusa Siphepho shared similar sentiments with his colleague and said the video clips lessons were quite beneficial for the referees. “Our WhatsApp video clips discussions help that we do not forget the basics and the indoor training is very important to maintain fitness,” he said. Sithole said it was true that football blackout greatly affected referees considering the fact that some of the men in black entirely depended on refereeing for income despite that others had separate jobs. Referee Thokozani Dlamini politely asked not to comment on the matter and referred all questions to the referees’ Manager, Sipho Kunene.

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