The Israel Football Association, the Israel Football Referees Association, and the Israel Bar Association launched a joint initiative on Tuesday to train lawyers to become soccer referees.
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The first-of-its-kind training course was held at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv.
"Soccer is a team sport and we, too, in the law profession, work as a team," said Israel Bar Association President Avi Himi. "Although the individual is tremendously important because he scores the goal in the end, ultimately it's a team game. We hear the criticism toward soccer referees, but worry not, in our profession, too, there's criticism toward judges and both systems perform their jobs faithfully."
Oren Hasson, the president of the Israel Football Association, said: "The purpose of this trailblazing cooperation is to bolster the soccer world with men and women who hold dear the ideal of justice and social values. Soccer, and mainly refereeing, offers wonderful tools for life and I'm certain that this integration will contribute to society as a whole."
Attorney Yariv Teper, the CEO of the Israel Football Referees Association, said, "We need better quality judging that is more principled and socially beneficial. The Israel Bar Association's enlistment [in the initiative], and the desire of so many lawyers to take the field and take on this complex challenge points to a great deal of care. I am certain that the Israel Football Referees Association will benefit from the welcome influx [of new referees]."
The inaugural class of trainees consists of some 70 lawyers.
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