FKF South Rift opens door for aspiring female refs

Aspiring female referees will be given top priority as Football Kenya Federation (FKF) South Rift Branch sets to roll out a training program for football officials to counter the shortage that has hit the division.

FKF South Rift Secretary Alfred Kirui said Thursday they are targeting 60 individuals with the branch set to fund the facilitation.

“We encourage teachers and Form Four leavers to come forward and register at our offices so that they can be enrolled for the training. We will also be giving first priority to ladies because there are a few women football officials in the region,” Kirui stated.

Kirui emphasized the upsurge in number of tournaments necessitated the initiative with the current 50 qualified referees easily outnumbered. Three of those are from the County of Kericho.

“We target to increase the number of referees that we have currently. We have experienced a shortage of the officials and that is why we are moving in that direction. More football teams are coming up so we have got to recruit more,” he offered.

Kirui, however, did not disclose the money set for the training saying they are still working on the budget and promised to do so at a later date.

In their next phase of training and recruitment, the branch will target an increase in the number of match commissioners which Kirui said are equally below the ideal.

Current referees from the branch will also be subjected to Physical Test Endurance with a view to testing whether they are still fit to officiate football matches.

-Report by Kimutai Kering.