A&H

Refereeing in Girls' and Womens' Leagues

The Referee Store
Few points. My County FA is forward looking and looks at under represented groups within refereeing which by and large has been populated by an ageing set of males. There is a huge bubble of 40-50 year olds who are all going to retire or reduce their number of games in the next 10 years leaving a huge gap in refereeing.

So how do the County FA tackle it. The have recently run the following courses
A course specifically for a junior football league on which more than 2/3 of candidates were aged 14/15 (junior candidates pay less if they have CRC or SGC exemptions)
A course specifically for BME candidates (subsidised by a group trying to increase sport participation in under represented groups)
A course for females only (planned for December and full price being charged)

Now it might just be me, but if these courses produce 25 active referees between them, then I'll be happy. I want games to be staffed by qualified referees. I want them to enjoy their refereeing, have the support of fellow referees and make a contribution to refereeing in this country in whichever discipline they choose.
 
Ah @Padfoot, I was beginning to get worried as I'd actually agreed with you on a couple of posts but normality is restored :p

The simple reason for the separate pathway is because the FIFA has a separate structure for the men's and women's game. Hence you won't see any male officials officiating UEFA/FIFA tournaments or matches and vice versa. Hence a separate structure is in place to enable the progression of our female referees onto the FIFA lists. Given the football pyramid for the women's game isn't as large as that for the men's game it is only right that the pathway reflects the levels for officiating in that game rather than the men's game, although there are obvious similarities in now progression is made.
 
ASM said:
Ah @Padfoot, I was beginning to get worried as I'd actually agreed with you on a couple of posts but normality is restored :p

The simple reason for the separate pathway is because the FIFA has a separate structure for the men's and women's game. Hence you won't see any male officials officiating UEFA/FIFA tournaments or matches and vice versa. Hence a separate structure is in place to enable the progression of our female referees onto the FIFA lists. Given the football pyramid for the women's game isn't as large as that for the men's game it is only right that the pathway reflects the levels for officiating in that game rather than the men's game, although there are obvious similarities in now progression is made.
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Ok, i can sort of see the logic in that.

Now that we have created a system of easier promotion for females, they should be barred from officiating in the mens game.....if they want to follow their own pathway then it should be an exclusive journey and they are restricted to the womens game.

And yes, quite happy for male referees to be excluded from womens games.
 
Padfoot, they have different pathways. They progress to different levels within the two codes. Female referees will not progress along the male pathway unless they are good enough to do so. What's the problem with that?
 
Why on earth shouldn't women ref in men's football, Sian Massey has done a few games at the top and I think she's been exemplary.

It's funny as one of the main Army FA fixture secretary's is married to her and he took her name, nothing to do with the fact he's a lower level ref than her but still wind him up about it lol.
 
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matty639 said:
It's funny as one of the main Army FA fixture secretary's is married to her and he took her name, nothing to do with the fact he's a lower level ref than her but still wind him up about it lol.
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They're both 2B referees in fairness although Sian wins on lining!!
 
I though he was a football league linesman and she has been select group so "assumed" she would be higher.
 
I referee in a Woman's League, in Lincolnshire, we have a team called Lincolnshire FA Centre of Excellence, and we have teams such as Leicster, Sheffield United, Norwich, Arsenal etc come play us. They do age groups; U11,13,15, 17 & 21. I tend to find them a lot easier to ref then the men ;)
 
matty639 said:
Yeah stuck her name on the end of his, such as Phil Biggun Massey*


* made up name.
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My wife tagged my name on to hers and our son has a double barrelled name. Fortunately we use his middle name rather than his first name, otherwise his name would run to 23 characters. The only place it gets used is by the NHS and the passport office (which means it ends up on holiday bookings)
 
Out of interest are there any females refs on this site?
What are their thoughts??

We have a handful of female refs down here that I know of, so the women's leagues are usually reffed by men, I started last season and really enjoy it, you get similar abuse as you do on a men's game and they just kick each other a bit softer.
Apart from one lady who stamped on another's chest and called her a fu****g c*** much to ones surprise!!
If your good enough to referee at a certain wether your a young in or a female, then fair play, I'm on the line for a contrib game this afternoon and the man in the middle is a 20 year old level 4, fair play to the lad, he'll have my 100% support this afternoon! even though I'm old enough to be his dad!!
 
I was doing a ladies game and a young lady was caught by the ball in a sensitive area. She shouted out "oooooooohhhhh my fooff!!!!" I was creased up but managed to compose myself and went over to ask if she was okay or needed the trainer on. She said she was okay. I said that is the first time I heard that shouted on a football pitch and she said matter of factly "you know how it is ref, I didn't want to shout out oooooh my [c word] in front of you"

:) the fairer sex eh?

We appear to have wandered off topic slightly...
 
haywain said:
It's called positive discrimination, hull, and it's often criticised by people who want to preserve the status quo.
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'Positive discrimination' is a genuine oxymoron. Nobody has ever been able to convince me there is ANYTHING positive in any kind of discrimination and I get so p####d off when people try and justify it.

Granted we need more refs, of any gender, and by all means offer 'incentives' or encourage a particular social demographic into the game with targeted marketing and promotions, but please don't use out dated and ill-informed terms like 'positive discrimination'.

Discrimination will always be a negative thing.
 
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