“Are you blind ref?”

How many times have we heard “are you blind ref”, when watching a game of football?

It is one of the hardest jobs in football, especially when FIFA prevent those doing it at the highest level, the technology to do their job properly.

It is very often said that when a referee has a good game, you don’t notice him/her, which would be easy if the two teams playing are playing fair, but if they are not, then it’s the referees job to discipline the teams to play fair and ensure the safety of the players involved.

The International Virtual School for Referees could be something that can help prevent us having to hear criticism of the referees in the future.

This project plans to :

Establish a revolutionary referee training centre in Prague, which will use state-of-the art digital technologies for recording and 3D virtual imaging of actual football match situations to support education and further training and development of referees.

The project has been registered with a patents office and a trademark. It plans to make 3D virtual reality school for referees to step into and learn their skills to control a game of football.

The project will be very important and advantageous for educating new referees, for strengthening their psychological endurance, their personality. For testing what they can bear and what can influence them.

The project also plans to help the development of assistant referees, the people and the technology used to support the running of the game.

How far off the ground this is at the minute, I’m not sure, but it sounds like an interesting development to train honest and  fair representatives to control the worlds game.

With almost two thirds of FIFA’s nation members under investigation for corruption, could this be a big step in the right direction?