A&H

Facial Hair

The Referee Store
I would hope it is just the Sun being the Sun, but ...

.. the FA and their Referee's Committee are known for holding out of date views, so it could be possible.

I would say though the timing seems strange. It talks about wannabee referees being warned, but I'm struggling to see what seminars would have been held in February. Certainly not for L4 or 3 candiates, so unless it was said at an existing L4 or L3 meeting it seems odd to me. More likely perhaps that it was at a CFA promotion meeting and an old blazer brigade member has come out with it.
 
There were level 4 development evenings held throughout January and February. I was in attendance at one of the events and can confirm that it was never explicitly or implicitly stated that sporting a beard would hinder an official's chance of promotion.
 
Which comes first for promotion as you grow through the levels to L4???
1) Average refereeing ability but readily available,
2) A lack of availability but a decent ref
 
Surely number 2 is better. I would have thought better reffing trumps availability. I can,t grow a decent beard anyway so clean shaven it is.
 
Which comes first for promotion as you grow through the levels to L4???
1) Average refereeing ability but readily available,
2) A lack of availability but a decent ref
To get from 7 to 5 you simply need to tick the 'basic availability' box by delivering on the required minimum number of games in the season. So fundamentally those jumps are more about proving you are a 'decent ref'

To get from 5 to 4 your availability needs to be significantly higher (because of the requirement to do a minimum of 10 lines on top of the required middles) PLUS it is clearly stressed in your promotion seminar that, should you be promoted to L4, you are expected to be regularly available both Saturdays and midweek. So I'd say that at this point, the answer to your question becomes both rather than either / or.
 
I always sport a short goatee (or box as my barber calls it!) ... I have been told about hair styles though? I currently have the ol' slick combed back hair, fairly long and then shaved back and sides - have been told the higher you go that they may hint about trimming the barnet
 
I am pretty sure where this story has come from and can confirm this is 100% true.

I am a member of the FA core group and at the first meeting of the season this was mentioned by a very senior member of the FA's refereeing department, lets just use the initial D. D presented to the whole group, levels 7-4 at this point and told us all that image is everything when progressing through the levels and that the FA EXPECT a certain image of its referee's. He re-iterated this by asking how many of select groups 1 or 2 have and facial hair? Have long hair? Have visible Tattoos? The answer was none.

He went on, "I am not suggesting anyone with a beard to immediately go and shave it off, but if you are looking to go to the very top then you will be expected to portray a certain "image" and this image does not include beards or tattoos".

There was a certain degree of shock around the room just as the story says, especially as so many of the group had facial hair of some description and or tattoos.

Finally and i think this backs the whole thing up, Mark Clattenburg, clean shaven his whole select group career. Mark announced he was leaving the select group at the end of the season, his very next game, yep you guessed it.......He had a beard.

**Disclaimer.....I am a regular contributor to the forum but have set up a completely new account to post this as i wanted to retain complete anonymity as i have gone into some detail with this post**
 
**Disclaimer.....I am a regular contributor to the forum but have set up a completely new account to post this as i wanted to retain complete anonymity as i have gone into some detail with this post**

Are you a ref? ;)
 
I am pretty sure where this story has come from and can confirm this is 100% true.

I am a member of the FA core group and at the first meeting of the season this was mentioned by a very senior member of the FA's refereeing department, lets just use the initial D. D presented to the whole group, levels 7-4 at this point and told us all that image is everything when progressing through the levels and that the FA EXPECT a certain image of its referee's. He re-iterated this by asking how many of select groups 1 or 2 have and facial hair? Have long hair? Have visible Tattoos? The answer was none.

He went on, "I am not suggesting anyone with a beard to immediately go and shave it off, but if you are looking to go to the very top then you will be expected to portray a certain "image" and this image does not include beards or tattoos".

There was a certain degree of shock around the room just as the story says, especially as so many of the group had facial hair of some description and or tattoos.

Finally and i think this backs the whole thing up, Mark Clattenburg, clean shaven his whole select group career. Mark announced he was leaving the select group at the end of the season, his very next game, yep you guessed it.......He had a beard.

**Disclaimer.....I am a regular contributor to the forum but have set up a completely new account to post this as i wanted to retain complete anonymity as i have gone into some detail with this post**

Hmm, so someone at that FA CORE group has leaked it to the press then it seems?

Two SG group officials have frequently sported beards, granted assistants rather than referees. Jake Collin has often had a full beard and Steve Child always has a goatee.

Just really shows how outdated the FA are. In an era where a huge percentage of players have beards and / or tattoos, at do much of the population for that matter, the FA tell referees that to do so would be unprofessional.
 
Just a thought process here ...

isit in more fact that they CAN have a beard but it is to be a neat a tidy beard? so not messy, or 5 o'clock shadows etc? Just thinking because I know other companies in my line of work that have this in place - either clean shaven or a proper beard/goatee etc
 
He re-iterated this by asking how many of select groups 1 or 2 have any facial hair? Have long hair? Have visible Tattoos? The answer was none.
what about Jake Collin. Seen him sporting a full beard once upon a time..

I've already got problems if I start getting close. I have the initial of the xlub I support tattooed on my forearm so I need to either get a cover up which due to size would be quite garish or think about removal which aint cheap nor guaranteed.
 
what about Jake Collin. Seen him sporting a full beard once upon a time..

I've already got problems if I start getting close. I have the initial of the xlub I support tattooed on my forearm so I need to either get a cover up which due to size would be quite garish or think about removal which aint cheap nor guaranteed.

Or just referee in long sleeves all the time, like Clattenburg does to hide his tattoos.
 
Or just referee in long sleeves all the time, like Clattenburg does to hide his tattoos.

^^^ This
I often get asked why i am wearing long sleeves or a base layer in the blistering sun couple that with my big beard im really going to struggle by the sounds of it!! :p:p
 
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