This Saturday against Basingstoke in the FA Cup (round 1)
Japanese referee Masaaki Toma, known as Masaaki Iemoto in the Japanese League, will be in charge of the first-round match between Brentford FC and Basingstoke Town FC at Griffin Park Stadium in Middlesex, teaming up with assistant referees Harry Lennard and Adam Nunn and with Kevin Friend as the fourth official.
It is the first time for England to appoint a non-English referee in an F.A. Cup match. This is part of an exchange program between Japan and England.
Mr Toma refereed the friendly match between England and Mexico in 2010 at Wembley as a guest referee from Japan and has been in England for a year as a trainee referee working with The FA Referee comiittee.Toma’s Japanese colleague Yoshiro Imamura will be in charge of the friendly match between England Under-19s and Denmark Under-19s on November 10 at Brighton AMEX Stadium in England, with help from assistant refs Lennard and Nunn.
Keith Hill made the reverse journey to Japan and wrote about it on the Referees website.
November 11, 2011