Three days of intense discussion came to a close last week with referees and assistant referees having a good laugh at the funny antics which, unfortunately, befell some referees in various countries.
It was a fitting finale for the Malta FA referees who had dealt at length with various situations especially those in last month's Euro 2008.
This annual seminar, organised by the Referees Board of the MFA, was run by the UEFA Referees committee member Jaap Uilenberg from Holland.
His easy flowing style, detailed explanation of incidents and the convincing way he answered questions made the seminar an unqualified success.
The referees and assistants co-operated fully and immersed themselves into useful discussion on such matters as how to manage players and mass confrontation, the various aspects of the offside and advantage laws and the essential co-operation between referees and assistants, especially now that in international events the communications system is used by the officials.
Mistakes happen as everyone, including referees, is human.
From film clips shown by Uilenberg, it was easy to tell why in Euro 2008 a second yellow card and then a red card was given but later rescinded. There was no proper communication between the referee and his assistant.
An interesting discussion was the goal awarded to Holland in their win against Italy when an Italian player was lying injured outside the touchline.
As the law stands today the decision was a correct one. However, this goal generated such animated discussion over Europe that it is very likely that the International Football Associations Board will discuss this at the next meeting early next year, either to clarify this part of the law or to amend it.
Referees were divided into workshops to discuss specific points of the laws of the game and they acquitted themselves very well.
A novelty this year was a lecture given by Adele Muscat on 'Sports Psychology for Referees'.
She explained the development of mental skills to improve performance at all levels. Like all other athletes, referees can have mental letdowns. They must, therefore, learn how to deal with such things as coping with anxiety and stress, staying focused and dealing with pressure from players and spectators.
Muscat said that younger officials must be given special attention in being provided with psychological skills training.
MFA president Joe Mifsud opened the seminar and spoke at length about the importance of referees not just knowing the laws of the game but how to apply them correctly.
He emphasised that referees must be dedicated, honest and fair in their decisions.