Stung by criticism of poor standard in refereeing in various tournaments, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is laying out plans to improve supervision of matches with special emphasis on grooming youngsters for the job.

Inconsistent refereeing has been a constant complaint of many teams participating in Asian tournaments, the latest instance being the China-Japan final of the Asian Cup played in Beijing.

Dissatisfied with the refereeing, China's Dutch coach Aarie Haan refused to attend the prize distribution ceremony. Refereeing was an eyesore even in the tournaments' Japan-Jordan quarterfinals.

Though the AFC chastised Haan for his unsporting behaviour, it did seriously take into account the problem of falling standards in refereeing in Asia.

The AFC's sub-committee for referees had been asked by its president Mohammed Haman to try and "overhaul" the system and include more and more youths in the job of refereeing.

The AFC has asked all its affiliated countries to pay more attention to refereeing and start special programmes to improve its standard, an All-India Football Federation (AIFF) source told rediff.com.

Along with other national units, the AIFF has been asked by the AFC to submit a report on action taken to improve the standard of refereeing.

The source said the AFC had informed its affiliate units of its intention to recruit 'development officers' for referees.

Respective national units would have to create this new post and pay the officer, but the AFC could chip in with some financial assistance to subsidise the post.