David Elleray during yesterday’s news conference. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Former FIFA referee David Elleray has paid tribute to the improvement made by Maltese match officials in recent years, a fact borne out by the increasing number of international appointments.

“The level of referees at the top of Maltese football has grown,” Elleray, now an influential member of the UEFA Referees’ Committee, told a news conference yesterday at the end of a three-day visit to Malta.

“The old guard are now being challenged by the new guard and that includes the referees who are coming through.

“Two young referees (Fyodor Zammit and Trustin Farrugia Cann) put in exceptional performances in the FA Trophy semi-finals last weekend.

“There hasn’t been a bad word about the referees’ performances in these games and, from a referee’s point-of-view, if you’re not mentioned, you’re doing well.

“The best referees are seen but not noticed.”

Elleray, who has been overseeing the development of Maltese refereeing since 2011, was particularly pleased with what he described as “a very high level of acceptance of the referees by the players”.

The 60-year-old stressed that referees are there to help football not hinder it and this is why he constantly urges officials not to let a small problem become a big issue.

Asked if Maltese officials could ever aspire to officiate in a major European competition, like the Champions League or European Championship finals, Elleray replied: “At UEFA, we promote referees on merit and not according to the size of the country.

“Obviously, referees from the bigger countries have an advantage because they are refereeing big games week in week out.

“Referees with big-game experience have more opportunities because for them, controlling an important Champions League match is almost like taking charge of a standard match.

“When you’re refereeing in front of a couple of thousands of people, it’s not the same but if we see that there are high-skilled, high-performance referees in small countries, they will be given more challenging matches.

“For many years, Iceland had a Champions League referee and Slovenia also had one.

“I believe that having referees at the UEFA U-17 Championships and the Women’s Euro U-19 is a significant compliment for Malta.”

Clayton Pisani’s promotion to Class One status is further proof of the esteem in which Maltese referees are held at UEFA.

Questioned about the use of goal-line technology, Elleray said he supported the notion but was less enthusiastic about the idea of introducing video replays, adding this might disrupt the flow of the game.

Objectives reached

Bjorn Vassallo, the Malta FA general secretary, expressed his delight at the giant strides made in the local refereeing sector under the current administration.

“When we speak about the refereeing sector, we take a deep breath and let it out with a smile on our faces,” Vassallo said.

“Our plan was to reach a number of important objectives in the refereeing sector by season 2017/18 but these has been achieved before.

“We have strengthened the level of refereeing from grassroots up to the elite level.

“This has been done because the association adopted a more user-friendly approach vis-a-vis the refs’ department.”

Adrian Casha, the MFA director of refereeing, derived great pride in announcing that, for the first time ever, a team of six Maltese match officials, led by Pisani, will control a Euro 2016 qualifying match in June.

The contingent will include two additional assistant referees.

Furthermore, Alan Mario Sant has been appointed fourth official for today’s UEFA U-17 semi-final between Belgium and France. Last weekend, Sant was in charge of the UEFA U-17 quarter-final between Russia and England, which the former won 1-0.

Casha also announced that the recruitment and retention unit within the refs’ department has launched a campaign aimed at attracting more people to take up refereeing. The department will be handing out flyers resembling yellow cards with the motto: ‘Refereeing is... fun’.

“These promotion cards will be distributed to the fans attending the FA Trophy final, this Saturday, and Malta’s upcoming international matches against Lithuania (June 8) and Bulgaria (June 12),” Casha said.