Lilleshall National Sports Centre
5th – 12th October 2003

Some 21 referee instructors from Australia, Botswana, Cyprus, Japan, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore South Africa and Sudan gathered at The Lilleshall National Sports' Centre for the 14th International Course for Referee Instructors'.

The Course is designed to train referee instructors to deliver basic training to new referees and to work with active referees on In-Service Courses. Since the first International Course in 1979, around 324 instructors from many Countries have successfully completed the Course and have returned to their National Associations to deliver training to hundreds of referees, many to whom have progressed via their own Leagues to become International Referees or Assistant Referees.

The Football Association is proud of its achievements in developing referee instructor training in many countries and the impact that this has made when course members return to their own associations.

All 21 Instructors achieved their goal - successful completion of the course and are able to return to their own National Associations to continue to vital work of training referees at all levels to become better referees and to help with the recruitment of new officials into this worth-while involvement as a match official.

There were several visitors to the Course including Ray Tinkler, Chairman of The Football Association Referees’ Committee, The Referees’ Association and Eric Adams, County Training Officer, Shropshire Football Association and former International Course Instructor

If you are an experienced referee, you may be interested in becoming a Referee Instructor. Please contact us to discuss the role and the training programme and support we offer in The Refereeing Department.

Please call Louise Abbott on 0207 745 4666 or by e-mail louise.abbott@TheFA.com for further information.