The Bermuda Referees Association will hold a three-day course this weekend at CedarBridge Academy, with anyone interested in joining their ranks invited to attend.

Crenstant Williams, chairman of the Referees Committee, said there are about ten new people who have signed up, including three young members: Amaury Majors, Matteo Donawa and Mical Hardtman. Majors was a referee’s assistant in the Charity Cup, while Donawa officiated in a Dudley Eve Trophy match last weekend.

“The course is for new, current and youth referees and is open to anybody,” Williams said. “We have three youngsters coming through and seven new people who have signed up.”

Williams said that some of the youth referees who did junior games last season have now gone off to college, leaving a need for some new members in time for the season, with the first round of league matches kicking off on September 23.

Two young referees, Antoine Augustus and Tashun Simons, officiated at the Concacaf Under-15 Championships in Orlando, Florida, this summer.

“We need numbers, and so we encourage anyone who is interested in refereeing to come to the course which starts on Friday, 5.30pm to 9, at CedarBridge and continues on Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 3pm,” Williams said. “We will also be doing some field work at the BFA field. Those interested can also register through the BFA.

“Antoine and Tashun officiated in the semi-finals of the Under-15 Championships between USA and Panama and then Tashun stayed on and did the Division Two final between Haiti and Puerto Rico. The future looks promising and hopefully both will be on the Fifa list in 2018.

“We can use them to show other youngsters what can happen when you apply yourself. Amaury, Matteo and Mical are three youngsters who have shown interest and hopefully from the course the seven people who have signed up will be available to officiate.

“They are people who have played football, a couple have coached and they want to come and help out. Ideally we need 30 officials for a Sunday, so that we won’t need people to double up, going from, say, Garrison Field to Police Field for another game. More numbers will help us alleviate some of those problems.”

Williams is also urging females to consider taking up refereeing.