Vafa Ahmadiyeh: “Refereeing is simply not a priority for USATH, not in words, not in actions, not in funding, and not in resources”
In an email sent on September 15th and addressed to “Dear Referee and Handball Friends”, Vafa Ahmadiyeh, announced that he is stepping down from his role as the Chair of the National Referee Committee (NRC). Elected to the NRC by his peers he was later appointed by the USA Team Handball Board of Directors in March, 2025 to serve as the NRC Board Chair.
Ahmadiyeh did not mince words and described the current state of handball refereeing as follows:
As to why he is stepping down he highlighted several areas where USA Team Handball is coming up short:
In higlighting the these problems he also emphasized the following:
In closing, Ahmadiyeh recommended that an early NRC election be called and committed to support officiating needs during the upcoming season, but as a friend of handball and not the NRC Chair.
Here’s an excerpt from a March 2025 USA Team Handball article announcing the results of the NRC election and Amadiyeh’s appointment as NRC Chair:
With Amadiyeh’s resignation all three NRC members (Ahmadiyeh, Bryan Cothorn and Anahita Pirnia) who were elected last year to serve on the NRC have now resigned. Additionally, the board member representative on the NRC, Patrick Jalabert was recently defeated in the Board of Directors election. This turnover suggests a new election and USA Team Handball Board of Directors action will be needed to reconstitute the NRC board in a timely manner for the upcoming season.
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