CNN International’s ‘African Voices’ profiles Aden Marwa, the Kenyan teacher refereeing at the 2014 World Cup
As the Kenya national football team mingles with other spectators in Brazil, Kenya’s top football referee Aden Marwa is a man to watch. This Kenyan is the first to officiate at a World Cup.
On CNN International’s ‘African Voices’ this week, Marwa – currently an assistant referee in Brazil – explains how he balances his day job as a teacher with his side job as a referee. He reveals how the years of refereeing primed him to officiate on football’s biggest stage, the World Cup.
“Football is my life, football has made my life change a big deal. I want to say if it wasn’t for football, I may have not come as far as I have,” Marwa tells the programme.
‘African Voices’ caught up with Marwa as he prepared to travel to Brazil, talking of his passion for football, and how he became a referee in 1998 at only 21 years old. Marwa began in the lower Kenyan leagues and in 2006, he got his big break: “In 2006 I had my first match in the Kenya premier League, and since then to date I have been officiating in the Kenya premier league,” he says.
As he grew up, Marwa couldn’t get enough of football. The 1990 World Cup in Italy is his earliest memory of watching the sport on television:“I was in class eight, and I remember the distance I used to walk to go and see if I could get to a TV to watch the game. When I was a small boy, I loved to watch football.”
Aden Marza’s is profiled on ‘African Voices’ which airs on CNN International on Friday June 27th at 10:30am with a repeat broadcast on Saturday 17:30pm, Sunday 05:30am, 11:00am & 20:30pm, Monday 12:30pm & 17:30pm and Tuesday at 07:30.
Tune in to CNN on DStv Channel 401.
