RefeReeing offenCeS - The Football Association

FOREWORD
REFEREES
“Refereeing remains
one of the mainstays
of our International
Development Programme”
Jane Bateman,
Director of Campaign
Operations for England 2018
When I joined The FA in 1998, my role
as a member of the 2006 World Cup
campaign team was to win votes for
the English Bid from the 24 members of the
FIFA Executive Committee. It was a fascinating
era, travelling to all corners of the world to
garner support for England’s candidature. It
became evident during our travels, however,
that The FA, whilst arguably the most famous
FA in the world, had actually paid fairly little
attention to other football nations and the
wider interests of the global game. Sir Stanley
Rous, President of FIFA in the 1960’s and
‘70’s, and the late Sir Bert Millichip, a former
FA Chairman, had been well-known in the
international community, but in the 2006
Bid process, we found ourselves short.
The visits around the world promoting the
Bid were well-received. We were visiting many
of the countries for the first time. And it wasn’t
enough. What was important was that we learnt
from this Bid, and I believe we did. Firstly, our
experience demonstrated the importance of
investing in international relations; secondly, it
was evident that we could and should be playing
a greater role in helping to develop the game. It
was our reaction to these observations in our Bid
travels which led to what I believe became the
foundation for The FA’s enhanced position within
world football – notably the creation of The FA’s
International Development Programme (‘IDP’).
As I made the transition from Bid team to Head
of a new International Relations department,
one of the key tasks was to define an FA ‘foreign
policy’. The questions I asked were: how could
English football play a role in supporting FIFA
and the confederations in developing the game?
Could it be an excellent means to promote
English expertise and a positive image for The
FA? Wouldn’t it educate our staff, our coaches,
our referees on the global game? And finally,
surely doing more would give us a better chance
of winning future tournament bids?
In the early days, my focus was on three
countries designated to The FA under the
‘UEFA-CAF Meridian Project’, where European
national associations were partnered with African
counterparts. England was linked with Botswana,
Malawi and Lesotho. I will not forget one of my
first visits to Botswana with a delegation of FA
Referee Instructors, and the mutual admiration
which emerged from the training course we ran.
On the one hand, the fact that a delegation from
England had made the journey to Botswana was
much appreciated; on the other, our delegation
was uplifted by the enthusiasm with which they
were received, the eagerness to learn, and the
level of achievement from referees with so little.
Such impressions have been repeated time
and time again in all parts of the world since
we established this Programme, and it makes
me immensely proud. Evidence of how much
the Programme has evolved and how much
respect it now commands in world football
was encapsulated for me at the end of last
year when The FA’s Neale Barry and Ray Olivier,
together with Mike Riley, delivered a training
course in Brazil – a country of such football
pedigree that we felt honoured to be invited.
The FA’s co-operation agreement with
CONMEBOL, the South American football
confederation, dates back to 2002 and has
been a great success. I admit to being surprised,
given that it was a continent renowned for its
football brilliance, but our visits there have been
consistently in demand. We are most frequently
asked for referee training, and have developed
excellent relationships with Ecuador through
our annual referee assistance programme.
The work in Brazil last November
complemented this perfectly. Our instructors
worked with 33 elite Brazilian referees over four
days. They were receptive to our approach to
fitness, for example, to discussing the theories
behind refereeing such as positioning and
movement, and getting those big decisions
right. CONMEBOL reported to us afterwards
that in the six years of our co-operation,
this was the best course we had organised.
Praise indeed!
Refereeing remains one of the mainstays of our
IDP. In Asia, we work annually with elite referees,
as well as Asian instructors and assessors. We
have also worked in South Africa, as the country
seeks to develop its football infrastructure in
the run-up to the 2010 World Cup. And our
instructors have delivered training in far-flung
countries such as Fiji and the Solomon Islands
– our partners in the Oceania region. All of
these experiences are mutually rewarding
and educational.
This year sees a shift of emphasis for me,
as I move on to England’s bid for the 2018
World Cup. In entering into this Bid, we have
many strengths, one of which is undoubtedly
the work of our IDP around the world, the
knowledge we have accumulated and the
friendships and partnerships we have
developed. This work will be a cornerstone of
our Bid – a key part of our legacy proposals,
which will be a prerequisite of the bidding
process. The referees, coaches and tutors who
have been involved in the IDP continue to play
their part in promoting England and English
football; let’s hope we reap the benefits by
hosting the World Cup in our country in 2018.
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