Officials' seal of approval

By Paul-Daniel Zaharia & Mark Chaplin

The Romanian Football Federation's recent activities highlight the efforts being made throughout Europe to nurture top referees who will be good enough to join the UEFA roster one day.

Regular course
The recent winter break gave the Romanian association the opportunity to organise a theoretical and fitness course for almost 80 referees - including female match officials - and more than 90 assistant referees, all of whom officiate in the two highest domestic divisions.

Positive season
The refereeing sector in Romania is experiencing a high-profile season. Women referees are putting the country on the map in grand style. Cristina Ionescu refereed last autumn's FIFA Women's World Cup final between Germany and Sweden in the United States, and further progress has seen top women assistant referees given the opportunity to run the line at major Romanian men's matches. Irina Mirt was the first such appointment, officiating at the top-division match between FC National Bucuresti and FC Arges-Dacia Pitesti last October.

Sponsor accord
This year, the assistance of a sponsor meant that the association's referees' committee was able to pay the full costs for the course. In the past, the referees themselves have made a contribution to the financial outlay for the course in conjunction with the referees' committee. In addition, referees in Romania are to wear sponsoring on their shirts, under a one-year contract signed with a beer company.

Cooper Test
Four days of intensive work saw the referees taking and passing the taxing Cooper Test, in which a minimum 2,700 metres must be covered in 12 minutes. Theoretical work included video analyses from the former international referee Ion Craciunescu, who reviewed the first half of the season and specific situations - all with a view to helping the referees and assistants improve their standards in the future.

Foreign guests
A trend among many associations is for guests from other countries to be invited to their refereeing seminars and courses to pass on useful advice and experience to colleagues. In Romania, Dutch FIFA Referees' Committee member Mario van der Ende talked to the officials about the importance of communication between players and referees, the need for referees to have self-confidence and how a referee can handle situations with humour and diplomacy.

Offside and tackling
Former international referee Bob Valentine (Scotland) talked about technical matters, while Fernando Tresaco Garcia (Spain), recently an international match official, talked about the interpretation of Law 11 of the Laws of the Game relating to offside. The issue of tackling - often a thorny issue for referees - was dealt with in an address by Austria's Herbert Fessler.

Media relations
Editors from the Romanian press attended the course to dicuss relations between the referees and the media, a referee's public image and how a referee should deal with the media. On the players' front, former Romanian international Gheorghe Popescu, a veteran of 115 national-team outings, stressed the need for the relationship between referees and players to be a human one.

Optimistic period
The course put the seal on an optimistic period for Romania and its referees. In all of UEFA's 52 associations, the area of refereeing is a crucial sector in the future development of the game, and while it may be a fallow period for the national football team, Romania's referees are very much on the ball.