 Two Jamaican referees have been told to pack their bags... but not in the way you might be thinking. Paris bound are Danian Parchmont and Odette Hamilton, who have been selected by FIFA to officiate at this summer's Olympic Games. Well thanks so much for staying with us on this Friday edition of the Sportsmax Zone and we kick out the show by talking Olympic football. As mentioned previously, big news coming from the offices of FIFA that Caribbean representation will be a part of Olympic football this summer in the French capital. Hamilton has been slated by FIFA to serve as one of the six support referees at the Games, while Parchmont will serve as one of 20 video match officials, having also served in that role during the recent Concord Gap Nations League final between the United States and Mexico. So we have the pleasure now of speaking to one of the referees set to take that flight to Paris. He's Danian Parchmont joining us via Zoom. Good afternoon, congratulations, so so proud of you and happy that you can join us this afternoon on the Sportsmax Zone. How are you doing? Good afternoon, thanks for having me, I appreciate the commendation. I am actually doing okay, giving good thanks, you know this is a big opportunity for myself and also for the Caribbean in general, Jamaica and a whole. Yeah definitely Danian. So are you ready because I mean this is such a big deal to officiate at the Olympic Games. Can you start a bit by telling me, you know just the work that you would have put in to finally be reaping these rewards because Caribbean representation at an Olympic Games has to be a big, big deal. We have so many referees all around the Caribbean, you know doing their thing. But for you to get this opportunity, talk to me about the work and now that you're finally able to reap that reward. I started out my international free-for-free area back in 2017 where I have refereed numerous games at the under 17 level, the under 20 level, at the Cancacoff, Scorchabong Champions League, the Nations League, a lot of international friends, Olympic qualifiers and so on. The journey has been a very, very long one. I also started my VR certification all the way back in 2019 when COVID came about and disrupt the whole certification process but thank God we were able to move out of the COVID era and the opportunity was still there for me to still excel in whether I am on the pitch or I'm in the VR room. You say VAR on my antenna went up, I'm sure my hair has probably spiked up already. VAR, a topic that has been a discussion on this show ever since. Being a referee danyan must have so many difficult times because that's a job I don't think I would ever want. The referee can never do right sometimes to the public who you know is watching football. Have you ever had an experience like a challenging one where you made a decision and nobody agreed with you or you know some story that you could share with us about how being a referee is not the easiest job? As you all know you have yourself and Lance who's in the studio with you. He has a number of games with me in our local Premier League and also at the Honka-Coffee level and you know going into an Arnett garden or going to a water house or Tivoli garden to officiate a game and when the fans turn out to watch your team play it is not always an easy task you know because you cannot please these fans and we have to do our job as a referee so whether the fans like what we are doing are not we still have to lift the game to the best of our abilities and make the best decision for the game. So I remember maybe two or three years ago I was in Honka-Coffee and there was this particular supporter. He was a Rastaman and trust me he was saying some very childish words and my decision was correct even though they were not approved by the spectators but they were incorrect. I actually had to stop the game because that particular person was trying to bring the game into disrepute so I had to get the police officer who was in charge of the game and ask him to remove this person from the game from the from the Venice sorry not the game. So and from then it set a trend a positive trend for our local referee because we have such powers and duties to can remove anyone from within the surrounding area that we think is a threat or is disrupting the game of football. Yeah you know I feel it for you because sometimes I think people forget that the ref is there so of course ensure the game goes fairly sometimes lands they see the ref as the enemy. Well Daniel knows exactly what he's talking about because he experiences it all the time but you know what I want to test you on this Daniel because your role in Paris will be as a VAR referee now we don't practice VAR in the Caribbean so you don't get a lot of practice with that aspect of your officiating domestically. I know you've been on some courses conca cap courses in the USA and so on can you talk to us about first of all the preparatory courses that you did and what it entailed becoming a VAR expert. Okay so since the start of this year we had a course in Toluca, Mexico where all the elite referees within conca cap and VR we were hosted by the Mexican Federation in Toluca. Facilities are awesome facility lands it's one of a kind I have never seen such facility I have traveled a lot and it's the best facility I have seen as a much official so during that time for the five days that we were in Toluca you were brought to a series of tests using the simulator with our VR specialist instructors from within conca cap and also you know the persons who are in charge of the whole these persons are called the moderators right so they take charge of whatever angles we ask them for within the game to see if the decision on the field is correct or not you know because our duty as a video much official is to is to give the referee a second opportunity if he or she has missed something and the field of play and have them come to the monitor to look at it to make the best decision for the game so leading up as I said leading up to to this appointment we started beer in in Toluca and then I was elected shortly to officiate in the women's ballpark where I did I think at least six games as a as a VR it went very very smoothly not it's not only the referee alone have difficult times on the pitch but as a VR who is sitting with 18 or 17 cameras in front of you you know have to to choose the best angle to give to the referee to get a second opportunity to make the best decision for the game so you know we cannot if the referee make a mistake on the field or duty as a video much official is not to make the same mistake that the referee would have made yeah but then you know I'm listening to you carefully and I'm assessing the different roles that you have and I'm thinking that if I was a referee I think I'd probably prefer being in the varsity than being on on the field because it looks easier to me because you're seeing everything you have different cameras different angles and it does is that it is more comfortable because you're not in the the hot sun so I'm thinking that bar that role there sounds sounds um preferred to me I'm not sure what your response is yes Lance to be honest if we have an excellent referee on the pitch they will make our job easier as a video much official because if they make the correct and the best decision for us all we have to do is to confirm the decision that they would have made and check complete when they show a yellow card or we check complete the goal or a red card that was that was given so it is not definitely easy Lance trust me whenever you are in the seat and when the moment arrives for you to for example make a on field review if the referee you have made a mistake and we want to have the referee to come and take a look we have to put ourselves into the shoes of the referee and saying is this the best decision for the game right so whenever you are in the hot seat it is not that easy task believe me I want to be provocative because you just said if you have an excellent referee um leads me to fear that sometimes you don't have excellent referees sometimes we know we have referred or referee or the concentration level will go Lance so we are we are human beings and we are prone to make look a mistake so as a much official we want to limit the amount of mistake that is made on the field of play so our duty as a referee is to limit the amount of mistake and then know with where the VR comes in is that if the referee make an error that the whole rural is seen that is obviously wrong we want to give that referee a second opportunity to make it right by come to the monitor and and and make the best decision but for the game yeah a quick comment on Audit Hamilton Danian because you have been Jamaica's number one referee for several years now it's about five or six years you've um based on your performance shown yourself as number one but Audit is a pretty solid referee as well I know there are a lot of times when um you had overseas assignments and you know Audit would get some big games I remember her doing um a a Premier League final between Waterhouse and Portmore I think that was 2019 you were traveling at the time so we know that Audit is pretty solid with her performances as well and any any comments about her getting the opportunity like you to be in Paris for the Olympics um Audit has Audit has grown tremendously and she she proved that during the last woman Women's Gold Cup where she officiated a quarter final game and she had an excellent game so because of that excellent game she was selected along with another referee from from Honduras Melissa Borjas who actually did define us so both of them were in content to see who will the referee define all of the women's gold cup and Melissa had had the edge so she was she was given she was given the opportunity but um as I said Audit is she she's really ex excelling into a top class referee and we just hope that she will continue to grow and you know she will soak up as much as as possible as if she she is a sponge you know we're looking forward to Audit doing great things in the future to come I'm so proud of her because I I always say you know as a woman and I mean I could only speak for us just seeing her do that and of course representing at the highest level it must be a difficult task for her as well and I'm hoping that in the future we could get to chat with her because I'm sure you had your stories that you just shared with us about you know the the issues you would have I'm sure she has her hers as well and it might be well to me a bit difficult because trying to officiate a men's game must be rough and then the first thing and I can speak from personal experiences people say is well you know maybe she just didn't belong she's a woman and that could be rough as well um we have to know face the reality and and accept that it is not only a men's game correct also a woman because we don't know seeing women's officiating in men's workup and in in the men's club workup right for example we have Tori who officiated the final of the after of the woman's workup and she was also selected to officiating the in the the club workup that just ended some months ago so so she she is she's doing a great job so we have to understand that women's women belong to to the men's game as well and and the players have to accept that and as you said it's a difficult task for for the female I know that Audit would have had some challenges or some challenging gaming tasks in our in our primary league but she's growing and the players are are are accepting her decision and they also showing her a lot of respect as well yeah and I don't want to make it about women at all because I know you all have the same issues equally really really proud of you Daniel and of course Odette we're supposed to be joined by Odette soon I know she's she's a bit under the weather so I'm looking forward to that and I'm wishing you all the best when you head across to Paris we'll be covering the olympic game so I'll get an opportunity to just follow up it closely of course and just just before um I I exit the the call um we should know that um cankaka fanfifa is no no longer focusing on gender it doesn't really matter you are a male male so as whoever you are you are a belong you belong to the game so we have to accept that and that is where it lands I love that that's a great way to wrap this discussion good luck make sure unpack your clothes for Paris and we'll talk again soon I appreciate that very much all right take care danian all right danian parchment over there you know we're getting ready for the olympics and you know all discussions like this of course really really set the tone proud of our caribbean referees are we're gonna take a break when we come back we have so much more to discuss