adminBULAWAYO based international rugby referee Simbarashe Dangah has been chosen by the Zimbabwe Rugby Union to attend an International Rugby Board Educators, a Coaches of Match Officials course in Johannesburg, South Africa, in December.
Dangah, the chairman of the Matabeleland Rugby Referees Society, will attend the course which runs from 4 to 7 December with other participants from the Confederation of African Rugby English speaking countries.
The 36-year-old Geography teacher at Christian Brothers College said his participation in the course will benefit up and coming referees in the country, especially in Bulawayo, a city which at the moment does not have an IRB certified CMO. Last year, Dangah was voted the National Rugby League Referee of the Year.
To be eligible for the high profile course one should be a Level Two referee and must have officiated at international level.
“My attendance of the course will benefit a lot of the junior referees who still need guidance. For me it is a transition from referee to CMO which is giving back to refereeing having come through the same system,’’ said Dangah, who started refereeing in 2003 before becoming an international match official five years later. He has handled matches in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Uganda and Kenya with his last international match being the 2012 Elgon Cup final match between East Africa neighbours Kenya and Uganda, with the latter hosting the match.
Other courses that have been lined up by the international rugby governing body for the English speaking countries in Africa are the IRB Level One First Aid in Rugby on Monday and Tuesday in Gaborone, Botswana, and a High Performance Sevens workshop in Harare from 26 to 27 November.
Online Reporter