NSW Referees Ready for Dallas Cup
There will be a strong contingent of referees and assessors representing NSW at this year’s prestigious Dallas Cup international youth tournament to be held on Saturday 13th of April.
Adam Susz from the Eastern Suburbs branch, Sam Grasso from the Canterbury District Soccer Referees Branch, Kelly Jones from the Gladesville Hornsby Football Referee Association and Lee Corey will be joined by assessors Bob Kofler from the Blacktown City Soccer Referees Branch and Football NSW’s Referees Appointments Officer John Bowdler on what will be an experience of a life time for all involved.
Adam, Sam, Kelly and Lee are now with the NSW State League Referees Association, will all use this tournament as a great chance to further develop their skills on the world stage in front of a pretty impressive audience.
Kelly Jones, who is also Football NSW’s Education Administrator, is eagerly anticipating her first ever Dallas Cup experience.
“It’s pretty exciting as the Dallas Cup is such a huge tournament so I am really looking forward to it.
“I’m especially looking forward to refereeing countries that don’t speak English as that is something I have not experienced here in Australia.
“This tournament will also be an ideal chance for me to further develop my refereeing skills.”
The Dallas Cup has enjoyed a rich history of combining marquee teams and talented up and coming players and has been an annual event held during Easter week.
As many as 180 teams divided into seven age categories ranging from U13s through to the U17s, U19s and the prestigious U19s Gordon Jago Super Group will be on show in 2014.
It is estimated that over 900 international players participate in the tournament each year and on average the Dallas Cup entertains over 100,000 spectators during the week long tournament.
The Cup has also played host to a number of football stars who participated in the tournament before making it big as the likes of English stars David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, Spanish legend Raul, Mexican ace Chicharito U.S. players Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley as well as recently retired former Socceroos ace Harry Kewell have all taken part in this mega youth tournament.
-By Mark Stavroulakis - FNSW
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