From left, assistant referee, Jeremy Holland, senior FIFA assistant referee, Sean Thompson-Palmer, and referee, Wilson Da Costa, who was the man in the middle, during a Portmore United/ De La Vega City LIME St Catherine Football Association Happy Sutherland knockout game at Prison Oval, recently. The men were being assessed by a Jamaican, Dave Meikle. -Anthony Minott

Three match officials from The Bahamas were in the Island recently to test their skills in a more advanced football environment.

The Bahamian officials, included Senior FIFA assistant referee Sean Thompson-Palmer, referee Wilson Da Costa, who was the man in the middle during a Portmore United/ De La Vega City LIME St Catherine Football Association Happy Sutherland knockout game at Prison Oval, and an assistant referee, Jeremy Holland. The two previously mentioned went on the new FIFA list for January 1, 2012, and were guests of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF). The match officials were being assessed under a competitive environment by Dave Meikle of Jamaica.

They officials welcomed the challenge as Jamaica plays faster football and at a higher level than in their home country. Jamaica are currently ranked 54th, while Bahamas is ranked 100 places below at 154th in world football.

Peter Reid, president of the St Catherine FA, facilitated the match officials and hosted them before they journeyed to another part of the island.

Following the game, Da Costa was relatively pleased with his performance.

"It was a good game, I'm not sure about telling myself how I did, that's why I have assessors," said the man in the middle, after the game.

"But based on our analysis, I think we had a fairly good game. The main purpose of being here is to have this quality of game to officiate, and it really stepped up our refereeing in terms of knowing that Jamaica plays very good football and you guys have a big league. This is a place to come and really test the waters," he added.

Da Costa had a fairly incident-free game and had control of proceedings from the moment he blew the opening whistle. Thompson-Palmer, who has been a FIFA assistant referee since 2008, had similar sentiments, while adding that the officiating in his homeland is of a fairly good standard.