By Barbara Sam
Participants had a rigorous schedule that included; a fitness check, handball test, drills and recovery strategies. The overall objective is to develop female referees and assistant referees. “Now, we have to up grade ourselves, not only in playing, since we need women to officiate, that is where we step in, we have to introduce and encourage more women with officiating football in all departments,” stated Damoo.
This is first ever training in Sierra Leone to included female referees. Isatu Wuriebah, 19, a student at the University of Sierra Leone, spoke about the motivation behind her decision to take part in the referee training. “I am an athlete, also I find it to be more educating, in the future I would like to be a referee. I can encourage so many girls out there, so that the can see not only men can do referee course also females can do it, she added.”
Ali Hadje Rasheed, President of the Sierra Leone National Football Referee Organization stated, “It was very intense to select these referees; they are here to develop. We need support from CAF, we need support from FIFA and we also need support from SLFA in Sierra Leone. This is just the beginning.” Inclusion of young women requires support to help the development of young talent. The SLFA is working to bridge the gap for gender equality in football. “As of this year, the Confederation of African Football have just introduced the Champions League for women, they are prepared to put more emphases on developing women football, said Damoo”
Sierra Leone is working towards bridging the gender equality gap in the area of football by including young women to help train the next generation of female referees. Precious Amara, FIFA Assistant Referee from Western Area, Freetown was among four women who successfully completed the very first FIFA women’s training in 2019. She expressed how proud she was of the young women as they take steps towards building themselves up for a better life. “This training has been one of the best trainings, in the history of Sierra Leone, this is the first FIFA Member Association course (FIFA MA) for female. It has greatly helped us as women in football referring. 27 women came for the FIFA MA course this year. This has made it good for us giving women a lot of opportunities, she said.”
The three-day training concluded with a private closing reception where all participants were presented with a certificate of completion. Elizabeth French, a former women’s football referee and current instructor, was on hand along with Technical Instructor, Muskuda Sesay to present certificates and congratulate the young women in their future endeavors.