Central region launches ‘Catch Them Young’ referees

The Central Region Football Association (CRFA) has launched the ‘Catch Them Young’ referees programme.

The chairman of the CRFA, Robert Otieku Duncan, said he was overwhelmed by the number of young boys and girls who had expressed interest in joining the programme.

He noted that all juvenile and Regional Women’s Division One League matches will be officiated by the ‘Catch Them Young’ referees.

Vice Chairman of the juvenile committee and ExCO member, Mr Samuel Anim Addo, who stood in for GFA President Kurt E S Okraku, noted that the ‘Catch Them Young’ referees were the future of Ghana football and hoped in the foreseeable future some of them would officiate at the Mundial.

He said the ‘Catch Them Young’ policy was in fulfillment of Kurt Okraku’s manifesto promise.

Mr Anim Addo entreated them to uphold the integrity of the game without compromise.

He was of the firm belief that the ‘Catch Them Young’ referees would end hooliganism at our stadia.

Head of Referees at the GFA, Mr. Alex Kotey, stated that the programme had come to stay and that the FA would do all it could to sustain it.

“The ‘Catch Them Young’ referees programme has come to stay and the FA is committed to doing everything possible to sustain it,” he stressed.

Mr. Kotey stressed the need for the young boys and girls to be disciplined and uphold the integrity of the game.

He entreated them to constantly read the laws of the game in order to abreast themselves with the new changes in the laws.

Fifty ‘Laws of the Game’ books were printed and distributed to the district instructors.

Besides, 120 officiating kits and 140 flags and whistles were also shared to the districts.