SFA conducts Referee Development Programme

GANGTOK, 07 Oct: Thirty-two participants from across the state attended the Referee Development Programme conducted by Sikkim Football Association here at Football House, above Paljor Stadium today. Head of Refereeing Department of AIFF, Col [Retd] Gautam Kar was the resource person for the programme.
The programme was attended mostly by those interested in taking up refereeing professionally and by those already registered with the SFA Referee Panel.
Speaking to media persons, Mr Kar mentioned that the programme was mainly to teach the basics of refereeing, stages of development and scope for referees. He expressed that the participation of youngsters in the programme was a good sign.
Mr Kar made special mention of the large number of girls participating in the programme. He said that the thrust area was to bring out more women referees and spread the message that gender does not matter in football.
SFA general secretary, Menla Ethenpa said that with the growth of football in the state, there is also the need for development in refereeing. He informed that at present the SFA Referee Panel has 18 registered referees, in which 7 belong to category 3, 2 in category 4 and 9 in category 5.
Mr Ethenpa mentioned that earlier Geden Lepcha and Chamchuk Lama from Sikkim refereed at the national level but have since retired and there is the need to fill this gap.