MY JOURNEY AS A NIGERIAN REFEREE (Part 1)

Hello everyone, it is with great honor that my first publication as a steemian will be the chronicles of my journey as a Nigerian Referee.

BECOMING A NIGERIAN REFEREE

It is very important to note that nobody convinced me to become a Football Referee. Since my childhood years and while in secondary school, I was a very good footballer, captaining my school team and leading my street soccer team to success in many grassroots competition.

This football quality I possessed, made my friends in secondary school to nicknamed me FIFA, a name I accepted in good fate and have kept till today.
I continued in this trajectory and was part of the players that formed a defunct football academy called Lion Striker FC Aba, where I later became captain.

In 2009, I was admitted to study cooperative Economics and Management at Federal Polytechnic Nekede Owerri Imo State. I also carried my football boots along and became the first 200level student to captain the department. At Federal Polytechnic Nekede, we always have a yearly football competition called **The Rector's Cup. All departments in the school participate in a knockout format until a winner emerge after the final match.

During the Rector's Cup, I always admire the Referees Who came to officiate the matches and how they carry themselves in a professional manner despite the abuses rained on them by players and Fans when results didn't go their way.
It was during one of these matches that I summoned courage to meet one of the Referee and signify interest of joining the hobby of refereeing. He advised me to come to Dan Anyiam stadium in Owerri on Saturday morning to train with them and get other necessary information.

I couldn't wait for Saturday to come. When Saturday eventually came, I hurried myself to the venue. I was introduced to the training officer whose role is to prepare the new prospects, prepare exam candidates and educate us on the laws of the game and it's dynamic changes.

REGISTRATION

The name of the Referee society that normally comes to officiate football game in my school is called Owerri West Football Referee society because my school is in their territory. There are many other Referee society in Imo state according to their geographical location. Each referee society can only officiate matches in their jurisdiction. These other society include, Owerri North, Owerri Municipal, Mbaise Referee society, Ngor Okpala Referee society, Ikeduru, etc. All these Referee societies put together forms the Imo state Referees council.

Therefore, it is paramount I become an Owerri West referee since that is where I fall into. A registration form was given to me to fill and return with 2 passport photograph, a copy of my birth certificate, O'Level result, and a sum of #4,700 (four thousand, seven hundred Naira only).
After my form was successfully submitted and processed by my council (Imo state) to national Head office Abuja, I became an RIT (Referee In Training).

I was meant to be at this stage for a period of 2 years when I could have learned better about the hobby, laws of the game and it's application. A national promotional exam will be conducted and the candidates who passed will be awarded with a Grade 3 certificate in Football Referee.

GRADE 3 CERTIFICATE

In my Referee society, they don't wait for you to be graded before appointing you to a local match. The Training officer made sure we are brought up to speed in both the practical and theoritical aspect of the hobby.

We learnt the basic things like how to hold a flag, how to sound a whistle, pattern of running, signalling techniques, etc and are immediately appointed to officiate local matches to test our readiness. This actually helped me to come out in flying colors in my first exam because the question are what we do every match day at the local level.

	My Grade 3 referee certificate

CONCLUSION

My journey as a Nigerian Referee is something I cherish so much because of the experiences that comes with it. I hope I can gradually unfold as many as possible to raise your consciousness about referee in Nigeria. Thank you for reading and I hope you find it interesting. Watch out for a more interesting part 2.
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Thank you for always encouraging me and also kindly check out my Referee journey.