ISL, AIFF concludes two-part workshop series for referees

Mumbai: Indian Super League (ISL) along with All India Football Association (AIFF) on Monday concluded the last leg of the two-part workshop series for Indian referees and assistant referees for the year 2015.

The two-day workshop, held at Navi Mumbai was conducted by well-known FIFA technical instructor Steve Bennett and focussed on enhancing the knowledge, application and interpretation of the laws of the game with effective communication and teamwork, amongst the participating match officials.

A total of 22 Indian match officials, including 12 referees and 10 assistant referees attended the last leg of the workshop.

In April 2015 Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) officials - Mike Riley, General Manager, PGMOL & Member FIFA Referee Committee; Ray Olivier, Training & Development Manager, PGMOL and Philip Dowd, PGMOL, Select Referee - visited India to conduct the first leg of the referees' workshop attended by 12 referees, 13 assistant referees and 12 referee assessors.

About the final leg of the workshop, Bennett said, "There is no doubt the group of match officials is eager to improve and develop their skills to a higher level their enthusiasm and commitment could not be faulted and if they continue to work in this way then the future looks very promising for Indian refereeing.

"The referees demonstrated a good understanding of the Laws and it was encouraging to see positive interaction and dialogue amongst the group while analyzing video clips.

Bennett discussed topics such as management of match situations, handball, new interpretation of the offside rule, dealing with confrontation/pressure situations, penalty area incidents and tactical fouls.