Coach Advises HFN To Organise Courses

Handball Coach Solomon Yola told the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN) ?????? to organise refresher courses regularly to make referees improve officiating standards in the elite league.
Yola told the newsmen in Lagos that the courses would equip technical officials with skills to officiate at the national league.
Expressed his delight at the return of the league, held last in 2011, he said that referees needed to be refreshed  on new rules to make the competition outstanding.
“Refresher courses for technical officials are necessary to create a good platform for fair officiating, it is most important for the HFN to give the programme more attention.
“The league has come back to stay and it will be to the credit of the federation to strengthen the ability of the referees to make the competition credible.
“The standard of officiating at the beginning of the league held last month in Kaduna was good. However, there are still some technical deficiencies that need to be updated.
“There must be standard officiating in the league to make it standout and set the pace for officiating or reference point for other championships in the country.’’
Yola described the league as a competition that brought clubs from various states together, stressing that seasoned referees should be allowed to officiate at the event.
The coach also advised HFN to make the refreshers courses comprehensive and compulsory for national referees.
“Apart from the National Sports Festival, where every state will have opportunity of presenting their clubs, this is another atmosphere where clubs come to compete among themselves.
“The federation must apply strict measures to technical issues by making sure that only referees who take part at the courses should be considered for officiating at the league.’’
He said the officiating standard would go a long way to guiding participating teams in their performances, adding that the rules were standard and could not accommodate any form of violation.
“Once the awareness is there on what is required of teams at the league, they will make extra effort to play by the rules.”