IFAF and the NFL will undertake a joint initiative to develop flag football coaches and officials on the African continent when Ghana hosts a clinic to teach the fundamentals of the sport from April 11-13.

A group of 50 men and women interested in becoming flag football officials will receive instruction and training from Cédric Castaing, an experienced IFAF official who last summer refereed the men’s final at the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships.

Once trained in the fundamentals of flag football officiating, the attendees will return home to themselves pass on knowledge to even more prospective officials. Increasing the volume of officials as the game’s popularity expands across the continent will help accommodate the growing number of people playing organized flag football in Africa.

Castaing came to flag football in 2010 having spent 15 years as a basketball official in his native France and within two years became an instructor with the French federation.

“I fell in love with flag football at my first game,” he said. “We have an important role as officials on the football field, but we don’t want to steal the spotlight from the players. We are here to perform as officials, to make sure the game runs smoothly.”

In 2015 Castaing translated the IFAF flag football rules into French and his dual language proficiency will be useful when Ghana welcomes visitors from multiple African nations to take part in the coaching and officiating clinics. As a social worker in his life outside football, he is skilled at communicating effectively, an ability that translates to his work on the football field.

“The first step will be to explain the philosophy we have as officials both around the game and during the game,” he explained. “Then we will teach them basic knowledge of the rules of flag football.

“This will be the first contact most of the men and women attending have with IFAF and we will make it a positive and useful learning experience for them.”

The 50 participants, some of whom have already started to officiate games in their respective countries, will be split between two IFAF officials to learn the basics of taking charge of flag football games. The second session will see the larger group reduced to 16 trainee officials who will referee game situations on the football field.

“By the end of the clinic we aim for them to be able to understand the rules and take charge of games,” added Castaing. “Learning the mechanics is important because they can then go home to teach trainee officials themselves and ultimately take charge of games in their home countries.”

Castaing has himself risen through the ranks of flag football, officiating at the 2019 European Championships and the 2021 World Championships in Israel and at The World Games in the United States in 2022 when he was also the deputy director of officials.

He believes the eventual outcome of this initial exposure to flag football officiating will be for the African participants to follow in his footsteps.

“This will be the foundation to have a large group of officials who are known and recognized by IFAF, and we can work on a longer-term plan for them,” Castaing said. “We will mentor them going forward and they in turn will mentor more officials in their country.

“Some of the best officials we currently have, who are volunteers like me, can help to develop these officials further. We can create instructional videos and have ongoing contact and online resources available to them.”

Teaching the new officials will also include integrating a group of coaches who will participate in the three-day camp to learn flag football coaching techniques. Castaing believes that having them appreciate the mechanics of officiating will aid their understanding of the game as they in turn develop.

“I want the coaches to be involved in everything because too many times you see coaches standing to the side and watching and not really understanding how the officials operate,” Castaing explained. “They will be very hands on as the officials learn their techniques.”

By enabling this group of officials to in turn become instructors in their own countries, the growth of officiating in Africa will mirror the upsurge in interest in playing flag football.