By Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway
Malcolm Ramsey
Kilyn La Plante was getting her workout at the A. O. Shirley Grounds, when CONCACAF Refereeing Development coordinator Malcolm Ramsey spotted her and asked if she had ever been a referee and if she was interested in becoming one. She accepted the offer.
Ramsey, however, wasn’t pleased with the turnout of a recent BVI Football Association referee’s recruiting workshop he conducted as only two—including La Plante—of the 10 persons registering showed up.
“Numbers are disappointing to say the least. I expected more people,” he said. “According to the BVIFA office, we had about 10 persons registered who were brand new, but essentially, only two of the 10 have shown up. I guess people are putting down their names then backing out at the last moment, so it’s disappointing for me.”
The workshop, Ramsey said, was designed for new and persons who have never refereed before. He wanted the new persons to engage in the training as well, with an aim of increasing the territory’s refereeing pool.
It’s not all gloom. Ramsey, who has been conducting training in the BVI over the years, said that there has been some development “but there’s also room for improvement.” “My main concerns as it relates to refereeing in the BVI, is the fitness,” he said, while commending Guillaume Parkins, who refereed at the CONCACAF U15 Boys Group A over the summer, on passing his first FIFA fitness test. “It’s a good sign because he has all the credentials, all the potential to become a FIFA referee next year.”
Ramsey said FIFA will make the final decision but CONCACAF and its refereeing department will make the recommendations. “Let’s hope they find it fitting to say ‘yes, we’re going to have him as a FIFA referee in 2026.’”
Ramsey said that time constraints in the BVI, doesn’t allow for much classroom time over a five-day course as he only gets about three hours in most cases and a little more time on the weekend. La Plante and Gerald McKelly, were the two females showing interest in the course, which also included other referees.
“Because there are matches being played at the same time, it’s really, really short,” he noted. “So I haven’t really gotten an opportunity to see them in action per say, but in the classroom, the new people we have, seem to be getting the basic concept of refereeing. One is fairly new and the other is brand new. Fairly new meaning she has never refereed before. She has been around the system, but not a lot of training happens in the BVI, unfortunately. There’s no reason not to have training in the BVI.”
Ramsey said that in his native Nevis, they’ve had no more than 15 referees at one time. “I’m of the mindset that if one person comes, you can have training,” he said. “There’s no reason why we can’t have active training every week. There’s no excuse for that. She hasn’t had a lot of training so it’s difficult to determine where she is at this moment. Maybe, if we have a discussion, I might be able to say she has some potential to do xyz. But for now, I can’t say.”
When asked what he’d like to see, Ramsey said those involved working on their fitness, because if they’re not fit, they won’t be able to keep up with the men’s game. “That’s across the board,” he said. “We have two referees, the FIFA referee, that’s James (Ramprashad) and the FIFA potential assistant referee, Guillaume (Parkins) generally speaking and I’m not going to make any excuses. Generally speaking, everybody else needs to get up to a particular level, in order to service the games.”
Games in the BVI might be slow, he said, but he’s looking for some potential to go to the next level, which is FIFA and CONCACAF tournaments. “Most of the persons in the BVI would not be able to go to those competitions because they’re not adequately fit,” he said. “For instance, Kenesha (Chesney) went to the U14 Girls in the Caribbean—that’s very slow, almost like walking—but if she had to go to the U15 like Guillaume went to, then she would struggle and struggle badly. No disrespect to anybody. Fitness is key. I know BVI only has one competition, but I think it’s disrespectful to have persons officiating in the men’s competition—the top competition—without adequate fitness. In the case of the assistant referee, it’s difficult to stay in line if you’re not fit. I’ve never been about training referees just to stay in their country and officiate. I train referees to try and get to the next level, because there are a lot of opportunities out there for referees and refereeing.”
