Nearly 30 participants from Honiara, Malaita, Makira Ulawa and Guadalcanal participated in the course, which was conducted by FIFA referee instructor for Oceania Neil Poloso over six days.

Local referee instructors Robert Sulimae, Hamilton Siau, John Saohu and Jackson Namo helped Poloso deliver the course, the objective of which was to bring the referees in Solomon Islands up to speed on the application of the futsal laws of the game.

Poloso said the course was the first of its kind in Solomon Islands and should set the tone for further courses of a similar nature to take place.

“This is the first FIFA Futsal Refereeing Course to be conducted in the country and it is well overdue,” he said. “A follow-up course must be planned for 2012 or 2013, depending on the needs of the Solomon Islands.”

Poloso praised the enthusiasm of the participants but also pointed out that a lot of hard work needs to be done to improve the quality of futsal refereeing in Solomon Islands.

“From my observations during the course, 70 per cent of participants showed some very good refereeing technique and their understanding of the futsal laws of the game was at a competent level,” he said. “All they need to do is keep practicing and improve.”

Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) referee development officer Justin Mutukera was also pleased with how the course went and welcomed the idea of more courses being held in the future.

“I agree that such a course has been needed here for a long time and we thank the FIFA Refereeing Assistance Programme (RAP) team for making this one possible,” he said.

“I am sure the development of futsal received a great push forward with the course and the participants will attest to that when they take to courts throughout the country. We will ensure our referees are supported with similar programmes as we continue developing the technical support for futsal.”

For more on Solomon Islands football go to www.siff.com.sb