Awang Mahyan turns to referees

New Sarawak Tribune - Monday, 13 September 2010 12:05 Hussin Abdul Rahman
  
KUCHING: Although he is no longer involved with football coaching, Awang Mahyan has not completely cut himself off from the sport which first helped make his name.

The coach who had opposing teams trembling when he prepared Sarawak’s ‘Ngap Sayot” sides in the early 80s, is now heavily involved with lawn bowls and cricket.

Awang is the president of both the state’s lawn bowls and cricket body. But football is still in his heart and Awang is helping out by taking care of the referees.

He is the president of the Sarawak Referees Association (Sarfa) and Awang is firm in how to make sure the referees are up to scratch.

“Referees who want to officiate in matches organised by the FA of Sarawak (FAS) must be a member of our association.

“Some referees previously made their own decisions on taking charge of matches organised by the FAS but this will no longer be the case.

“All referees must join Sarfa as standard procedure before officiating in FAS-sanctioned matches,” said Awang when asked to comment on the move by the FAS to bring in the referees.

The move was confirmed by chairman of the FAS’ referees committee Haidel Heli on Saturday.

“Yes, we agree with Awang and our referees committee will soon have members of Sarfa,” said Haidel at his Hari Raya open house in Matang, Petrajaya, here.

Haidel said the presence of Sarfa members in his committee is important in helping to improve the standard of refereeing, which in turn will help raise the standard of football in Sarawak.

“Hopefully with higher standards of refereeing, we will see an improvement in the quality of the matches,” said Haidel.