Football SA launches academy for state’s referees

Football SA has announced the creation of the Football SA Referee Academy, with 19 members chosen for 2020.

The academy will be divided into two groups, a development squad and a senior squad.

Young officials will have the opportunity to receive specific training and coaching through the academy, enabling the next generation of referees to evolve.

Development squad member Thomas Brinkworth was looking forward to starting the program.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn from not only some of the best match officials in the state but also some of the best in the nation. The knowledge and experience they will be able to pass on will prove invaluable in my refereeing future,” he said.

A-League referee Daniel Elder will take up the role of lead instructor at the academy in 2020.

AFC Assistant Referee of the Year Matthew Cream will be one of a number of guest presenters involved in academy sessions.

“The 19 members of the referee academy are an extremely promising group who should be proud of their selection,” Elder said.

“I’m looking forward to working with them and guiding them on their journey to becoming high-quality match officials. Throughout my career, I have been fortunate enough to experience the great coaching Football SA has to offer young match officials, and I hope to continue that throughout this course.”

Football SA State Referee Committee Chair Rick Schneider said: “The program to be led by Daniel & his team of presenters will be a fantastic step in providing quality development for younger referees so that they can grow into excellent match officials – for competitions in South Australia, and also on the national stage in the A-League, W-League and Y-League.”

The Football SA Referee Academy squads are listed below.

Lead Instructor: Daniel Elder

Senior Squad (10)

  • Andrew Citti
  • Ian Crossing
  • Cole Davy
  • Alex Diamond
  • Angus Jackson
  • Angus MacDonald
  • Jackie Megson
  • Denis Palushaj
  • Joe-Jordan Tripodi
  • Dion Turner

Development Squad (9) 

  • Jayden Betterman
  • Thomas Brinkworth
  • Finley Drewniak Sandery
  • Argyle Groff
  • William Heinrich
  • Harold Spanner
  • Thomas Temby
  • Liam Toovey
  • Ashley Udycz
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Philip Panas is a sports journalist with Soccerscene. He reports widely on football policy and industry matters, drawing on his knowledge and passion of the game.

The serious waves Series Futsal have made and what it means for the sport

Football within Victoria in a broad sense is difficult to unpack from multiple angles. What is clear is the passion displayed by fanatics.

Although not a traditional form of football, it’s cousin futsal has slowly emerged as a popular indoor sport that has abundance of opportunity within Australia’s major futsal organisation, Futsal Oz.

Futsal Oz has been the manifestation of the football extraordinaire Peter Parthimos, who founded the entity in 2006. When discussing with Peter in regards to why he created Futsal Oz, he discussed how he wished to unify people, provide competitive competitions to those who played the sport, all the while providing opportunity to those who want to play on a leisurely level all the way to a professional level.

Despite having a turbulent tenure throughout the global pandemic in 2020. Futsal Oz came out of Covid-19 with a newly furbished Futsal court fit for its most talented players. The court resides in their Thomastown location. Series Futsal is currently the highest level of futsal across the country and features abundance of Australia’s most coveted football players.

Melbourne-owned Sport Recreational Wear manufacturer AKU is a proud partner, with many women’s and men’s series sides opting to use AKU as a kit sponsor. The company also designed and created kits which were featured in the monthly major event in Thomastown, combining the best players across the Series Futsal competition to represent their respective ethnicities. The event was broadcasted on FireTv, a subsidiary to American-Bulgarian Company TrillerTv, who specialise in combat and European Sport streaming. Melbourne born Commentator Michael Schiavello spearheaded the broadcast acting as executive producer.

Each Wednesday and Friday the competitions are streamed live via YouTube and its independently ran application “Wefroth”, allowing its humble yet passionate fanatics to watch each round of Series Futsal unfold.

Through the running of competitions and the opportunities it sets through broadcast, futsal is in a healthy position.

Feyenoord secure record shirt sponsorship deal with MediaMarkt

German electronics retailer MediaMarkt will become the new shirt sponsor of Dutch club Feyenoord for the 2024-25 season in a record multi-year deal.

The two parties have agreed a three-year deal – through to the conclusion of 2026-27 – believed to be worth around €20 million (AU$33.1 million) in total, according to Dutch outlet De Telegraaf.

The company will replace EuroParcs which has been featured on the front of the Eredivisie club shirts since 2021.

MediaMarkt is a German multinational chain of stores selling consumer electronics with over 1000 stores in ten countries in Europe. The company is one of the largest sellers of electronics in Europe with a total of nearly 2.1 million products sold in 2023.

MediaMarkt’s head office is in Rotterdam and the company became convinced of the collaboration after gaining insight into various data about Feyenoord that suggests large growth is imminent.

It became attractive for the company because Feyenoord has gained a greater reputation not only nationally, but also internationally through long, reasonably successful participations in the Conference League, the Europa League and also the group stages of the Champions League.

As a result of this on-field success, the MediaMarkt partnership would be the Dutch clubs most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal which follows on from a record kit supply deal signed by Feyenoord last year with Castore, a UK sportswear brand.

Feyenoord have been winning off the field as well, recording record net revenue numbers in two of the last four years, including the 2022/2023 season which amounted to €99 mil (AU$164.2 mil), a thirteen percent increase on the previous year.

In domestic shirt sales, they ranked third last season behind PSV and Ajax but are projected to overtake PSV in 2023/24 after their recent league success.

Feyenoord has a tradition of long-term contracts with main sponsors, MediaMarkt will only be the eighth big name on the shirt. More than half a century ago in 1982, the Gouden Gids was the first shirt sponsor.

This deal is proof of Feyenoord’s incredible growth on and off the pitch with their marketing and trophy successes. MediaMarkt hopes to grow further by investing in Feyenoord’s upward trajectory, located right near their main headquarters.

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