TOURNAMENT director Donald Lyew says the inaugural staging of the LIME National Street Futsal competition will have trained referees to officiate the matches.

“Futsal is not that much different from the regular sport of football, but there are some little differences in it which can make a big difference, and so that is one of the reasons why we have to ensure that they (referees) have specialise training for Futsal,” he said.

Lyew said that 42 referees, including three females, who are members of the Jamaica Referee Association, were given special training as to adapt to the playing conditions and rules of Futsal to ensure the competition runs smoothly.

“There are certain rules that are different… there is no throw in futsal, there is kick in. There are two different penalty spots — a six-metre penalty spot and a 10-metre penalty spot.

“The six-metre penalty spot is for when you have a regular foul in the box, in this case the box is actually a semi-circle (an arc), and so a foul in the arc by a defender leads to a penalty six metres away from the goal. The 10-metre penalty spot is there for accumulated fouls. For every six fouls, a penalty taken from the 10-metre spot.

“The degree of difficulties is obviously different at times but the referees, we believe, can control the game and such we have to ensure in Jamaica that we have serious training for the referees,” he explained.

Lyew also said that the referees, who were trained by FIFA-accredited referees, will also ensure safety of the players at all times.

“One of the key things about Futsal is that the rules are very stringent about hitting players, so what you find is that the referees take charge of the whole thing by ensuring that no ‘rumpus’ thing going on because the games are playing in close quarters, very tight, and this is what develops the players skills.

“It (playing in close quarters) gives them (players) a chance to shoot and to make the space to shoot and so on. So the referees are there to make sure that everything is alright,” Lyew told the Jamaica Observer’s Sport Club at the newspaper’s head office in Kingston on Friday.

“The referees were trained by FIFA’s referee trainers… and training took place in Santa Cruz at the St Elizabeth Technical High School and at the Jamaica Football Federation on Valentine’s Day (February 14).”

The competition is set to kick on March 21 in St Thomas at the Rudolph Elder Park at 11:00 am.