NRA Promises Better Officiating In 2014 League

The Nigeria Referees As
sociation (NRA) has said that it was confident that the level of officiating in the forthcoming 2013/2014 league season would be of a higher standard.
The NRA’s Chairman, Ahmed Maude, told Tidesports at the commencement of the 2013 Referees’ Coopers Test that since the commencement of the programme officiating had improved.
The 2013 edition of the test commenced on November 4 in Abuja and would be concluded today.
It had become the practice of the NRA to hold a pre-season fitness test for its referees to ascertain their fitness level ahead of a new season.
“I am optimistic that we will have a better football season in terms of officiating because of the way the cooper test has been helping us.
“Ever since we started taking our referees through fitness tests ahead of the new season, officiating of our referees in the various tiers of the league is getting better.
“And with the sanction we have in place about those that fail, who will be relegated to a lower tier of the league, they have been trying in their own way to live up to expectation.
“So, I believe that the football season we are looking forward to will be better than the ones we have had in the previous seasons,’’ he said.
The 2013 test which includes both medical and physical exercise is featuring about 300 referees from the six geo-political zones.