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Why I didn't ref at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil - Marwa

Sports

Marwa Aden

The dream of officiating at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil for Kenyan top assistant referee Aden Marwa crushed within two days of his arrival in Brazil.

Marwa was among 12 African referees and assistant referees selected by the international football governing body’s Referees Committee to officiate at the tournament.

“I had a wonderful experience in Brazil, but it was unfortunate I did not get the chance to lift the flag,” Marwa told The Nairobian in an exclusive interview since returning from Brazil.

“When we got to Brazil, as the norm, we were to spend the first 10 days training and undertaking further tests.

However, on the second day of training, my referee, Daniel Bennett got injured. We got to Brazil on June 1, and the games were to begin on June 12. According to Fifa regulations, whenever one official in a team of three is unable to officiate, all three are automatically disqualified.

Biggest blow

It is the biggest blow ever in my career. For some time, I didn’t know what would follow, but thanks to CAF and Fifa, I was allowed to remain even as Bennett exited,” said Marwa.

Marwa sounded upbeat about his experience saying that though he may not have been seen on TV, he is proud to have trained alongside and interacted with the world’s best football officials.

Marwa and Bennett were selected as support referees for the 2014 tournament, but on June 2, Bennett picked up an injury during a routine training session at the Zico Centre in Rio.

In a letter to the South African Football Association, SAFA and Confederation of African Football, Fifa Secretary General Jerome Valcke wrote:

“The medical investigations revealed the seriousness of the injury, which means a minimum of four to six weeks for recovery. The main consequence is that Mr Bennett will be unable to officiate and support matches at this 2014 Fifa World Cup.”

Like Marwa, Bennett too is a school teacher at Mondeor Primary School in Johannesburg, and has been an international referee since 2003.

Fifa appointed Bennett as the head of one unit of the African umpires, whose duty was to act as fourth officials in a number of matches.

As Bennett left Brazil, Marwa stayed on and was even appointed a standby assistant referee in the Mexico vs Cameroon match. Along with Tahitian Norbert Hauata, whose teammate Mark Rule, had to move into New Zealand’s Peter O’Leary’s trio because of an injury of the latter’s original AR2 Ravinesh Kumar of Fiji, Marwa was moved up to a new Tahitian-Kenyan support duo.

The man from Kehancha, Kuria said approach to things was different: “At the World Cup, one can never tell the games they will officiate in since the appointments are released two days before a match.”

Marwa dismissed online rumours that he was ‘a joyride referee,’ saying that he had a very good experience, and that staying in Brazil offered him an opportunity to go through the daily programmes with the world’s best.

“We were taken through compulsory post match analyses after every game, where officials critically analysed the games and every decision made by match officials. We talked about things like right and wrong calls and how best the officials should have handled different scenarios on the pitch. “

The soft-spoken high school teacher attracted accolades from Kenyans of all walks, even making CNN International’s ‘African Voices,’ who profiled him as a Kenyan teacher slated to grace the 2014 World Cup pitches. Dubbed ‘How to Become a World Cup Referee,’ Marwa featured in the 30-minute ‘African Voices’ programme, a weekly show that highlights Africa’s most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open up to cameras.

“Now that I am back, we need to share and see how best to improve our matches locally. I will work even harder as I look forward to more opportunities internationally,” concluded Marwa.

 

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