‘We are disappointed!’
Brian Hall’s chirpy narration of the success stories and the exciting development programmes guiding the referee agenda suddenly softened.
The Concacaf director of Refereeing was wading through the multitude of workshops and courses designed to aid the confederation’s referees to take their aptitude level to the next bar.
He was hardly able to hide his disappointment that no Caribbean referees made the cut of the Concacaf contingent that did duty at Russia 2018.
“We are disappointed about this and we are now in the process of developing programmes, and the pyramid I spoke to you about is designed to turning this around, but we are aware that this won’t happen overnight,” said Hall, a former Fifa-accredited referee.
“What we need is two or three of the TARP participants to jump out and say what they want. But I am confident that for the next process of the World Cup, we are going to have candidates from the Caribbean participating, and when it’s time for the final decision, it is going to come down to their performance.
“I know candidates will come from the Caribbean because we have put the foundation in place now to help them succeed,” Hall added.
The Targeted Advanced Referee Programme (TARP) is an initiative which reels in 12 promising “young” referees across Concacaf in an aggressive regime that exposes them to every available development tool.
At the end of the exercise, it is hoped they would have acquired the skill and experience to take them to the higher level of the confederation’s pyramid system, a multi-tiered measuring ramp for match officials.
The TARP, Hall believes, will help in the self-actualisation of the Caribbean referee in particular.
“We need to develop the passion and professionalism and that’s why we developed this TARP programme and there are several members from the Caribbean in this programme, and what we want to do is develop them and bring out that passion.
“I think as we move forward we are going to concentrate on development opportunities in the Caribbean and even in Central America where members can get challenges inside and outside of their associations that will make them better. We also have to develop the professionalism within the member associations,” said the American.
Hall, 57, whose current stint as a referee development administrator in Concacaf started two years ago, told the Jamaica Observer that there is indeed a direct connect between the growth of the local referee and the strength of the domestic league he or she plies operates.
“Part of the challenge is that some of the islands of the Caribbean the level of football (of the leagues) is not as high as say that of Central America and the north, and that is a challenge,” noted the Japan/South Korea 2002 World Cup referee.
But as Concacaf — in keeping with its busy growth agenda across its football development platforms — seeks to raise the bar of refereeing in the sub-continental region, Hall warns that quality will take precedence of quantity.
“We have 300 Fifa referees and I can tell you that the objective of Fifa and Concacaf is not just about quantity, but more importantly quality and we will continue to focus on raising the standards of our Fifa referees,” he noted.
Hall, who distinguished himself with the whistle in the US leagues for many years until his retirement, says as part of the changing game of refereeing standards within Concacaf, all officials in the language-rich confederation will be required to learn and speak English.
“It will become mandatory for all our Fifa referees to speak English, so the Concacaf philosophy is that we all have to speak the same language.,” Hall explained in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with the Observer.
In Concacaf — made up of member associations from North America, Central America and the Caribbean — four languages are spoken: English, Spanish, French and Dutch.
Reflecting on the performance of Concacaf’s officials at the recently concluded Russia 2018, Hall said Fifa and Concacaf were pleased with the manner in which the six referees and eight assistant referees from North and Central America conducted themselves on and off the field.
“Regardless of what the press said, Fifa, along with myself, was extremely proud of the performance of the Concacaf referees, and that showed the quality of our referees. I am confident that our referees can take the field and do as well as those from any other confederations,” Hall trumpeted.
The American, who hails from California, shared the goals of Concacaf when it comes to keeping the confederation’s match officials on top of their game.
“My goal and the confederation’s goal is to have every referee and every member association to be the best they can be. My legacy, I am hoping, will come around before I hang up by boots, and as an administration, I want to be able to say that Concacaf developed its referees, and that member association supported them in their role, and at the end of the day, it will be said that Concacaf has the best referees programme in the world,” Hall ended.
The last Caribbean referee to have officiated at a senior men’s Fifa World Cup was Jamaica’s Peter Prendergast at Japan/South Korea 2002. The Jamaican is currently a highly respected referee instructor with Concacaf.