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News from the Caribbean as of
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Jamaican referee among 23 selected by FIFA for World Cup 2006
Monday, April 3, 2006
by Gary Smith
Caribbean Net News Sports Correspondent
Email: gary@caribbeannetnews.com
KINGSTON, Jamaica: Experienced Jamaican referee Peter Prendergast is set to become the first offical from the Caribbean to officiate in two major football senior tournaments when he travels to Germany this summer to participate in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals.
Prendergast, the President of the Jamaica Referees' Association and an international referee since 1994, was named among the 23 referees selected by FIFA to officiate at tournament.
"Elated of course because it has been a long hard work, this time round especially," Prendergast said, after receiving the news of selection.
"To have FIFA now bring it down to only 23 of us. I guess, at this point proof of the level of work and I guess the competence that exists in our little island (Jamaica) her being represented by me, I guess in this situation."
In the 2002 World Cup Finals in Japan and South Korea, Prendergast became the second representative from the Caribbean to officiate at the senior World Cup after Trinidad and Tobago's Ramesh Ramdan’s selection for the France 1998 competition.
He took charge of two matches -- one in the group stages and the other in the round of 16 between Brazil and Belgium -- before his tournament came to an end.
Among the 23 referees named, Europe and Latin America boast the most representatives with a total of 17 for the tournament and President Sepp Blatter is convinced that those selected are currently the best in the world.
"The 23 referees who will be in action in Germany are currently the best match officials in the world," Blatter said. "That is the way it has to be as they will have a crucial role to play in this tournament, and great demands will be placed on them."
In the meantime, despite the inclusion of two officials -- Frank De Bleeckere of Belgium and Carlos Batres of Guatemala -- FIFA said they still had to pass fitness tests.
Tournament hosts Germany will kick off the World Cup against CONCACAF qualifier Costa Rica in Munich on June 9.
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