Hello, my name is Frank Schneider, I’m a federal referee and here you can find my chronicles in Benin. I went there with Tony Chapron, a 1^st division referee and Johann Perruaux, a 2^nd division assistant referee. Our project was to train referees of the Porto-Novo league. Porto-Novo is the administrative capital of Benin, small West African country.

Monday, January 21^st

Departure to Benin. We gathered in this project after a meeting with UVS International. Our luggage was full with referees outfits and books offered by many Alsatian referees, that I’d like to thanks and also gifts from the French football federation (FFF). We landed at 7:20pm. The airport was out of date, small and full of people. It was hot and humid. We were welcomed by Pierre Coffi Tonton, the local correspondent of the charity.

Tuesday, 22nd January

We had our first work meeting with the Referee Commission, with the President Abdou Fatai Aderoudjou and the general secretary Dominique Kougbemede. The initial reception was quite cold because leaders had just change but quickly, the atmosphere improved. In the night, we led the first training meeting in a school. CRA members were there and also 31 referees from different levels. On the schedule of this evening: a video, a PowerPoint presentation and a questionnaire about the Law 12. Federations t-shirts, pens, books about referring were freely given to the delight of the participants.

Wednesday, January 23rd

Someone had to pick us at 7:30am. He arrives at 9am. It’s Africa…. On this day, we went to a football class of the INJEPS (National Institute of Youth and Physical and Sporting Studies). Our correspondent, Pierre, brought us to his basketball class; he’s a basketball teacher at the Institute. When he can’t be there, it’s his daughter who gives the course. Right after, we visited the ethnological museum of Porto Novo. The visit was divided into 3 themes: birth, life and death. We discovered the different ethnicities and several rites. The museum is located in a former colonial house. At 6pm, we had a meeting with the CRA and the fitness trainer in order to talk about physical preparation. In Benin, the season only took place from February to August, there’s no game all the rest of the year. At 7pm, with no delay this time, we started the session. The room was full and people kept on coming. Two members of the CCA honored us with their presence. On this evening, we talked about positioning and moving thanks to a PowerPoint. Then, we showed a video called “words of referees” and had a discussion about it. Once again, this meeting was very positive. Pierre, our correspondent, was congratulated by everyone in the room for his work. They talked about the questionnaires, various and varied supports, coming missions: maybe next year… At the end, Pierre told us “Tonight, while going to sleep, I’m really satisfied and happy.”

Thursday, January 24^th

We spent the day with Raimi Aliou, the former president of Porto-Novo football league. We went to Cotonou to withdraw cash because we couldn’t do it in Porto Novo as there’s no dispenser. We visited Raimi’s offices in Cotonou and then we made our way to the Nigeria frontier. We drove to the duty-free zone where Raimi has another office. He explained how frauds happen here and how hard is it to have business with Nigerian people. We went back to Porto Novo for the lunch and Raimi invited us into a restaurant to eat agouti with a snake as big as a hand. It was disgusting! We would have never gone there alone! During the meal, Raimi requested our help to work with France, no matter how… Just out of curiosity, we tasted the meal but, except rat, we really didn’t like it. We met the treasurer of the Benin football federation who’s also a Minister and the leader of his party at the National Assembly. He wanted to meet us before we left. We also had a meeting with the local Youth and Sports director. All together, we visited a private school owned by Raimi. Then, we went to this hometown to visit his house and his school. A highway was being built, in the middle of the village. After many stops, we went to the center for a more classical meal: poultry, always a bit fleshy.

Friday, January 25th

After breakfast, we had a meeting with the CRA to compare functioning and amelioration that could be bring to their system (designation, promotion- relegation...). Then we took a pirogue to go to Agege. It’s a village entirely built on piles. It took us 45 minutes to go there. It was the dry season; the water level was low so we’ve been able to play on Agege football field. They play in the 2^nd division but only 4 referees accept to go there. The others are afraid of water but also of the hostile climate. Then we visited the big market of Porto Novo. We mainly found food. We also had the opportunity to attend a funeral. It was a happy celebration, far from our European ceremonies. In the evening, we watched Benin against Ivory-Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations. Huge loss for the “squirrels”, nickname of Benin football players.

Saturday, 26^th January

Wake up at 6 in the morning to start the training at 6:45. We did a fitness training and then we refereed a game, in duet (Tony or me as the principal referee and Johan with an assistant). We changed referees every 5 minutes. We did a debriefing in a hall and then in a classroom. Then we gave jerseys to the referees. Obviously, there were more referees than jerseys. It took us more than an hour to give all the jerseys… In the afternoon, we went to the center for the Promotion of Handicraft, in Cotonou, into a 505 Peugeot in order to do some shopping. When we came, referees were waiting for us at the hotel. It was the case almost every day. It was the opportunity to talk outside the classrooms hours. Currently, there are 300 referees in Benin, 13 of them are referring at the international level. Most of them are students or working in the public sector.

Sunday, 27th January

Back to France: time for assessment. This week was a pretty humbling moment. I know I will come back, here or somewhere else because we had the feeling to be useful. It cost us a lot of money because we personally paid for it it but it will remain etched in our memories. It was such a rich human adventure. Maybe, we will have to do a better preparation next time. However, it will be easier now that we had contacts there.