PETALING JAYA, 20 Feb 2020:
Female referees will making their debut in the 2020 Malaysian League season, kicking off on Feb 28.
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Referee Committee chairman Md Dali Wahid said the two women – a referee and an assistant referee – have been selected to take charge of Super and Premier League matches this year.
“This is one of FAM’s efforts to showcase the talents of female referees. They have passed the fitness test and have the talent so we felt they deserved to be featured.
“Besides that, we have trained an additional 30 referees and assistant referees for this season in an effort to continue producing local referees,” he told reporters after opening a seminar on refereeing and football rules at Wisma FAM, here yesterday.
Md Dali also confirmed the committee had identified a list of referees and match officers for the season’s opening match, the Charity Shield between Johor Darul Ta’zim and Kedah on Feb 28, but did not disclose their details.
He said local referees would be given priority in refereeing Malaysian League matches, including other important matches such as Malaysia Cup and FA Cup.
“Our referees have the quality and have been recognised by AFC (Asian Football Confederation) and FIFA for refereeing international matches. But it is up to MFL (Malaysian Football League), if there is a request from them (to use foreign referees).
“We have tried since last year, to avoid referees to be in charge of matches held at their birth states. We know referees are professional in performing their duty, but we don’t want it to become an issue by netizens.”
In the meantime, he said the one-day seminar organised by the Sports Writers Association of Malaysia (SAM) and FAM, could assist journalists and media officers of the Malaysian League teams to better understand football rules.
Meanwhile, SAM president Jasni Shafie said qualified journalists need to have good knowledge to disseminate information to the public, including criticising referees in any matches.
– Bernama