The Course was represented by 28 referee instructors from AFC – UAE, AFC – Thailand, Australia, Botswana, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, Lesotho, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago and Zambia who gathered at The Lilleshall Hall National Sports' Centre for the 15th International Course for Referee Instructors'.

The Football Association has, for more than twenty years, staged an International Course for Referee Instructors regularly every two years and more recently annually. We trust we have made most welcome participants from Europe, Asia, Africa, CONCACAF and Oceania.

The course is intentionally limited to allow personal contact and tuition in small groups. The Course is conducted in English and participants are required to make presentations in English throughout the course.

Mutually beneficial contact has been maintained with many participants on return to their nominating associations and further assistance given willingly upon request. 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.

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 345 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.

All 28 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 Lewis, FA Referees’ Committee, Arthur Smith and Mick Brooks from 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.