A&H

Refereeing Course Cost

T

The Ginger Ref

Active Member
Level 7 Referee
Shropshire £160 / Sussex £150 / London £140 / Amateur FA £135 / Surrey £140 / Hertfordshire £135 (last season)

It is just me, or is this cost for the course just a bit too much?

I hesitated before posting this, considering the costs of facilities, two trainers, and the provided equipment, which might justify the pricing as reasonable. Additionally, the CFA may set course fees to ensure a higher level of commitment from attendees. While I don't have concrete data, I suspect that when courses were offered at reduced rates or for free in some counties, the retention and completion rates of trainee referees were low. And of course the fact that referee's are likely to earn their fee back in their first season.

However, I can't help but feel uneasy about the price, especially given the ongoing referee shortages and the constant reminder that there's no game without referees. Most importantly, football was always meant to be a working man's sport, accessible to everyone (a bit deep for this time of night, I know).

For my CFA in Hertfordshire, there certainly isn't a shortage of attendees, with courses selling out within an hour of going live on the website. However, during the course I completed last year, only four adults attended, while the rest were youth participants aged 14-16. I doubt many of these youths paid the £135 fee themselves, so I assumed that the CFA hold places aside for them and they receive funding in some way (though I could be wrong). I've also speculated previously that most of them are unlikely to pursue refereeing as a career; in fact, I'd estimate that 90% of them wouldn't even complete the required training games.

Match fees have been a frequent topic of debate in recent months, particularly regarding how they can hinder referees' progression up the levels. In some cases, referees could be considered to be earning below the national minimum wage when hours spent traveling and at games is taken into account. It could be said that the cost of the referee course could also become a barrier for those looking to pursue a career in refereeing. I personally hesitated for a few years because I didn't want to spend that amount of money on the course.

I don't have some really philoshopical answer, more just typing as I think but be good to hear the thoughts of the forum.
 
A&H International
The Ginger Ref said:
Shropshire £160 / Sussex £150 / London £140 / Amateur FA £135 / Surrey £140 / Hertfordshire £135 (last season)

It is just me, or is this cost for the course just a bit too much?

I hesitated before posting this, considering the costs of facilities, two trainers, and the provided equipment, which might justify the pricing as reasonable. Additionally, the CFA may set course fees to ensure a higher level of commitment from attendees. While I don't have concrete data, I suspect that when courses were offered at reduced rates or for free in some counties, the retention and completion rates of trainee referees were low. And of course the fact that referee's are likely to earn their fee back in their first season.

However, I can't help but feel uneasy about the price, especially given the ongoing referee shortages and the constant reminder that there's no game without referees. Most importantly, football was always meant to be a working man's sport, accessible to everyone (a bit deep for this time of night, I know).

For my CFA in Hertfordshire, there certainly isn't a shortage of attendees, with courses selling out within an hour of going live on the website. However, during the course I completed last year, only four adults attended, while the rest were youth participants aged 14-16. I doubt many of these youths paid the £135 fee themselves, so I assumed that the CFA hold places aside for them and they receive funding in some way (though I could be wrong). I've also speculated previously that most of them are unlikely to pursue refereeing as a career; in fact, I'd estimate that 90% of them wouldn't even complete the required training games.

Match fees have been a frequent topic of debate in recent months, particularly regarding how they can hinder referees' progression up the levels. In some cases, referees could be considered to be earning below the national minimum wage when hours spent traveling and at games is taken into account. It could be said that the cost of the referee course could also become a barrier for those looking to pursue a career in refereeing. I personally hesitated for a few years because I didn't want to spend that amount of money on the course.

I don't have some really philoshopical answer, more just typing as I think but be good to hear the thoughts of the forum.
Click to expand...
The fees went up massively once tutoring went from volunteers to qualified and paid tutors. Always going to be the case when it went from people not being paid to people being paid £20+ an hour. Add to that facility costs have rocketed, and they are all the more important after courses moved from classroom to more practical based.

Putting it in context, if the London fee is £40, you aren't going to be getting less than £40 per game (for adults) so you have recouped it in less than 4 games. There's also a huge shortage of plumbers in London, but someone wanting to qualify as one is going have to spend at least £1000 in training and qualification, and they aren't likely to get that back in 8 hours (the same time as 4 football games).
 
I paid £15 for my course and got £30 back after 6 games from Northumberland cfa in 2010...

Costs atm are clearly prohibitive
 
The course I did was run by staff already on the FAs books, at our local FAs HQ. Obviously overtime, but surely you could get around this with moving some hours around.

The more refs you get, the more fees you get from the refs. It does appear they are cashing in on the course hard. Which is a bit bizarre considering the shortage, but I reckon it is one of the key funding streams they get. Which if true is a shame.
 
OldNavyRef said:
The course I did was run by staff already on the FAs books, at our local FAs HQ. Obviously overtime, but surely you could get around this with moving some hours around.

The more refs you get, the more fees you get from the refs. It does appear they are cashing in on the course hard. Which is a bit bizarre considering the shortage, but I reckon it is one of the key funding streams they get. Which if true is a shame.
Click to expand...
In the smaller counties it is possible to use the CFA facilities if they have indoor and f. o. p. availability, but they will only have one qualified Referee Developer (tutor) on the staff, the RDO, so will need to bring in a second Developer.
RDO's already work way beyond the "9 to 5, Monday to Friday" enjoyed by many workers, so expecting them to be at every course is somewhat unfair.
In larger counties, some have facilities in other parts of the county (Hampshire has 3 of these, plus the CFA site) - this can reduce course running costs considerably but also reduces site revenue as clubs cannot use the playing area when the course is using it.
Over the next four weeks I am tutoring on three courses, one on a CFA site, one at a football club, and one at a school. In the latter cases we have to hire the 3G pitch for part of the time and a classroom for the two days, which is now very expensive as the 3G is in great demand.
The CFA staff in my County have all the preparation to do for the 12 courses already planned for the new season, involving contact with learners and their parents/carers, checks re completion of the pre-course requirements (Child Protection, online LOTG exam, medical requirements/disabilities, acceptance of course photography, etc., etc.), all very time consuming as many parents are slow to respond, and parents/learners often then change their minds re course dates.
After each course there is registration to complete at the CFA and The FA, follow up re completion of 5 games, liaison with learners/parents re completion of the registration process, etc.
At the course, learners receive a resource pack to allow them to start officiating - whistle, cards, flags, notebook, etc - all included in the course fee.
In my county, no profit is made from running courses.
The FA's decision to charge for courses has reduced the number who turn up to get an attendance certificate then never referee. We get coaches who attend then referee only for their club, but that is totally acceptable.
Our waiting list peaked during Covid as people did the online learning and exam, mandatory before attending the course, and we still have enough aplicants to fill every course (maximum is 24)
 
My course with Birmingham FA was held at Walsall's ground over 3 days, with 3 tutors. It cost £130 in total including equipment such as whistles, flags, and cards as part of the package. They also gave us a 20% discount on kit (and 2 years free registration). I personally thought, whilst expensive, it was worth it and I can understand why it has to be so high as the tutors have to be paid. Do many CFAs offer all those extras as part of the course fee or not?
 
Honestly, I think the course is good value Vs the potential gains.

The truth is, if you stump up £160 (the highest quoted fee), and in your 5 trainee games you get £30 a game then the actual cost of qualifying is £10 + your kit (which is again reimbursed through match fees in a short space of time).

Whilst we talk about the cost of delivering the course, if your county, like ours do provide mentors at some of your games that is another £20 a visit on top of the overall training costs to the County FA.
 
I don't mind the cost and it's important there is a cost otherwise you'd get loads of people doing it who won't go on to become referees, as already happens with a lot of the kids on their part or fully funded courses. Plenty of leagues around our way (Hants and Wilts) will refund the cost of the course in stages as well as an additional retention incentive to the fees.
 
Kent Ref said:
it is expensive but when certain people get a huge discount or offered a free pass that is not fair.

It causes bad feeling.
Click to expand...
All County FAs have targets to increase the percentage of underrepresented groups in refereeing. No one can possibly argue that the percentage of white English male referees is in anyway representative of the population, females and ethic communities are vastly underrepresented.

We've been through this before, it is called positive action and is perfectly legal if you are trying to increase involvement from underrepresented groups. If you want to increase equality you have to do something to encourage the minority groups, and the obvious one is reduce the cost.
 
I agree that some minorites are under-represented. How to fix this - i just don't know.

But there are lots of disadvantaged people who could do with this offer. But they cannot apply.

There has to be a better way than this.

Also, the inference here, is certain sections of society cannot afford the course. How insulting to ethnic minorities.
 
I don't think you have to infer that, but you could.

Alternatively, by making it free it makes it just a bit more appealing for someone that had it as a marginal choice, even if the cost wasn't a barrier.
 
Kent Ref said:
I agree that some minorites are under-represented. How to fix this - i just don't know.

But there are lots of disadvantaged people who could do with this offer. But they cannot apply.

There has to be a better way than this.

Also, the inference here, is certain sections of society cannot afford the course. How insulting to ethnic minorities.
Click to expand...
You might infer that, but I think you are reading too much into it. What does a holiday company do if they have one destination that isn't selling and another that is, they lower the price of the one that isn't selling. Same as if a retailer has a product line that isn't selling, they lower the cost to make it more attractive.

This isn't selling things, but CFA's know they need to increase the percentage of female and ethnically underrepresented groups. So they do what any business or organisation does to incentivise people, they reduce the cost.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top