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Junior/Youth Finding Games (SFA)

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Degnann

As incompetent as the last ref
Level 4 Referee
This may be easier for any fellow SFA refs, but how do you find friendlies to ref?
see alot of chat about if teams know you etc but obviously don’t have that luxury as I’m not yet a member of leagues or anything.
There isn’t any direct contacts that I’m aware of within the referee hierarchy that could help.

Will add here looking to start with youth football before doing anything else
 
The Referee Store
This may be easier for any fellow SFA refs, but how do you find friendlies to ref?
see alot of chat about if teams know you etc but obviously don’t have that luxury as I’m not yet a member of leagues or anything.
There isn’t any direct contacts that I’m aware of within the referee hierarchy that could help.

Will add here looking to start with youth football before doing anything else

Easiest way is to get registered with the leagues you want to referee on. Teams need a permit from the league to play friendlies so league sec will usually tell them which refs are available for games. Also find out who appoints the pro youth games for your Association and let them know you are available.
 
Easiest way is to get registered with the leagues you want to referee on. Teams need a permit from the league to play friendlies so league sec will usually tell them which refs are available for games. Also find out who appoints the pro youth games for your Association and let them know you are available.
Thanks. I did send an application and emailed the other week about it but never heard anything back. I’ll have a look at the pro youth set up. Thanks
 
What area you in?
I'm in the Angus area and already been asked for 2 games.
As above, both have come via the league.
If you're a new ref, your name will certainly not be out there for anyone to even contact themselves so it would be much much harder.

When I lived in London a lot of clubs would contact me direct but then I'd been refereeing for 15 years prior so knew a lot of people.
When I moved to Scotland, the first thing I done was join leagues. They got me in touch with teams and then the leagues started so they got to know me more.
The two games I've been asked, one is direct from league, the other is direct from the club.
 
I am in Glasgow.
I never got a chance to register with any league due to COVID. Thats my issue.

did get a reply from the league sec there saying my name will only be down for games when the league restarts.

so just have to wait. I see theres a lot of like findaref things on twitter but all English based so potentially a gap in the market there 😂

just need to wait for leagues to start I guess
 
Others have explained the best way to go about it. I also joined a few Facebook groups that clubs use to advertise for referee's. Also go on the leaguea Facebook group, as that's where alot of teams request referees following dropouts etc. I've done 12 friendlies since we restarted and almost all of them were down to Facebook. Obviously you must ensure that the teams involved are affliated etc.
 
Others have explained the best way to go about it. I also joined a few Facebook groups that clubs use to advertise for referee's. Also go on the leaguea Facebook group, as that's where alot of teams request referees following dropouts etc. I've done 12 friendlies since we restarted and almost all of them were down to Facebook. Obviously you must ensure that the teams involved are affliated etc.

Unfortunately I don't have facebook to do so.
 
This was the first time I had used Twitter to find friendlies and I ended up getting so many offers that I couldn’t do them all. So many clubs ask for referees on Twitter, so I’d start looking on there. Also helps to get yourself familiar with the clubs you’ll be refereeing throughout the season.

Make sure they’re all affiliated though. Thankfully our CFA put out a list of affiliated clubs every week which made that easy
 
This was the first time I had used Twitter to find friendlies and I ended up getting so many offers that I couldn’t do them all. So many clubs ask for referees on Twitter, so I’d start looking on there. Also helps to get yourself familiar with the clubs you’ll be refereeing throughout the season.

Make sure they’re all affiliated though. Thankfully our CFA put out a list of affiliated clubs every week which made that easy
I do have twitter so may have to start looking. Found alot of youth teams don’t have up to date accounts. Think I will message teams and say if they are needing anyone to give me a shout rather than waiting on them needing someone.
 
I do have twitter so may have to start looking. Found alot of youth teams don’t have up to date accounts. Think I will message teams and say if they are needing anyone to give me a shout rather than waiting on them needing someone.
Yeah, I did that too and it definitely works! Hope you find some!
 
I am in Glasgow.
I never got a chance to register with any league due to COVID. Thats my issue.

did get a reply from the league sec there saying my name will only be down for games when the league restarts.
It depends very much on what level you are refereeing at. In North East Scotland, at grass roots level, it is usual practice is for teams to approach referees directly to cover friendlies. Obviously if the teams don't know you there's very little chance that they will contact you.
Another option is that referees who are asked but unavailable might pass on your name, If you have some contacts within the refereeing community let them know that you're available and ask if they might pass on your name. You'll probably find that once you've done one game you'll start to get more offers (unless you had a complete nightmare).
 
It depends very much on what level you are refereeing at. In North East Scotland, at grass roots level, it is usual practice is for teams to approach referees directly to cover friendlies. Obviously if the teams don't know you there's very little chance that they will contact you.
Another option is that referees who are asked but unavailable might pass on your name, If you have some contacts within the refereeing community let them know that you're available and ask if they might pass on your name. You'll probably find that once you've done one game you'll start to get more offers (unless you had a complete nightmare).
At the very start of my refereeing career. I put a tweet out yesterday and it got decent retweets and a few teams followed me so time will tell if anything comes from it.
 
At the very start of my refereeing career. I put a tweet out yesterday and it got decent retweets and a few teams followed me so time will tell if anything comes from it.

I know you don't have Facebook (neither did I until August). But alot of the teams I've done friendlies for put their referee requests on Facebook. I could choose from games from all youth age groups, Sunday League, womens football and vets games this weekend having scrolled through the groups this morning. At a very rough guess I'd say there are 30 requests on Facebook for games this weekend.

Obviously you want to be going through the proper channels for League/Cup fixtures, im just highlighting the usefulness of social media channels for teams requesting referees and referees seeing what games are out there. It was particularly useful for pre season friendlies and for building contacts for future games. The appointment secs etc on your local leagues are your go to guys, but if your area is fortunate enough to have enough referees to cover leagues then like all things in life you have to be proactive and build up contacts and your name yourself. You need to research and contact people who can help you and you need to look for games wherever you can find them.
 
I know you don't have Facebook (neither did I until August). But alot of the teams I've done friendlies for put their referee requests on Facebook. I could choose from games from all youth age groups, Sunday League, womens football and vets games this weekend having scrolled through the groups this morning. At a very rough guess I'd say there are 30 requests on Facebook for games this weekend.

Obviously you want to be going through the proper channels for League/Cup fixtures, im just highlighting the usefulness of social media channels for teams requesting referees and referees seeing what games are out there. It was particularly useful for pre season friendlies and for building contacts for future games. The appointment secs etc on your local leagues are your go to guys, but if your area is fortunate enough to have enough referees to cover leagues then like all things in life you have to be proactive and build up contacts and your name yourself. You need to research and contact people who can help you and you need to look for games wherever you can find them.
I may actually look at getting facebook again purely for refereeing. It does seem to be the easiest way of finding friendlies myself. Again a few teams have followed me now on Twitter through me asking so Facebook may be a shout.
 
Its worked for me for pre season friendlies across leagues I dont usually do too. I wont use it much now the season has started, but its an excellent resource for finding games
 
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