Capital Football Director and Deputy Chair Richard Naumovski has been appointed to matches in the first two rounds of the Hyundai A-League as an Assistant VAR (Video Assistant Refereee).
In Round 1, this weekend, Naumovski will take up the role during the F3 Derby between the Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets, before keeping watch over Brisbane Roar v Adelaide United in Round 2 at Suncorp Stadium.
Naumovski said this week he was looking forward to the first weekend of the season.
“Making the A-League as a match offical has been a long term goal of mine,” he said.
“And to finally achieve it is something I am very proud of.
I am excited and nervous, but I can’t wait for the first game!”
Naumovski said there are a number of differences in the way he will approach this appointment as opposed to an on-field appointment noting that the focus is more on the technology than the man himself.
“As an on field referee the focus is ensuring you are physically and mentally prepared which revolves around an intense warmup,” he said.
“In the VAR box the preparation is focussed on the technical side of things.”
There can be numerous screens, communications equipment (with the referee team and TV producers) and TV angles that need to be used during the game so pre match preparation and testing of the equipment and communications is vital.”
Naumovski’s appointment rounds out a strong batch of Capital Football referees appointed to National Panels, with good representation across the Foxtel Youth League, Westfield W-League and Hyundai A-League panels.
Owen Goldrick and Greg Taylor were once more selected to the Hyundai A-League assistant referee panel, while Delfina Dimoski, Nia Southwell and Georgia Ghirardello were appointed to the Westfield W-League assistant pool.
Four Canberra referees were appointed to the Foxtel Y-League panel, with Alex Twomey joined this year by Hamish Rae, Harry Shield and Nathan Shakespear, while Canberra’s Clive Mackillop and Gavin Martin were appointed to the assessors panel for 2017/18 and Naumovski believes it is all recognition of Canberra’s strong referee pathways.
“There is no secret to why Capital Football Referees are very successful,” he said.
“We have a large junior base of referees in the region and we have dedicated programs to transition those referees into the senior ranks.
Our development framework for referees at the senior level is supported by current and non-current elite referees enabling them to impart national level coaching to our referees and includes training, professionalism and education programs.”
If you are interested in becoming a referee, you can find more information here.
And a full list of available training programs is available on the Courses page.
