Not this window yet no.
Thinking I might go down the women's route which he did his best to massively put me off...maybe that'll annoy him even more
Am I being held back unfairly?
- Thread starter Gio
- Start date
Not this window yet no.
Thinking I might go down the women's route which he did his best to massively put me off...maybe that'll annoy him even more
ChasObserverRefDeveloper
Regular Contributor
No ... well I thought I had didn't I. But then the sergeant super mentor got told me I never sent off the relevant details of my first 5 games . So the plan was to do it now. I messaged him to check if I needed to do anything before I apply as I'm worried I'll balls it up again. That's when he started on the "you're not ready and I'ts only once I've given you thr okay".
Am I right in thinking the general advice is just apply anyway? I'm going to message thr RDO this week and try and go through him and less through SM. Just feel like he's going to be super awkward with me once he finds out that's what I've done.
I've spent two decades in football and referee administration, I have to know the rules. Not going to apologise for that.
ChasObserverRefDeveloper
Regular Contributor
I made sure I logged games on full time . But obviously never filled out the form as such.
I'm not even sure I have as of yet.... I'll message RDO
Just looking back through emails and this is what I got early on.
Seems as though he's saying that I needed 5 mentored visits to even become qualified as a level 7 unless I'm reading wrong?
"Once we have the approximate 5 mentor visits completed & I am happy to pass you forward for your level 7 the next stage can start.
I would say at this time let me try & arrange a visit to one of your next appointments & we can chat things through it will be much easier for me to gauge where you are".
Seems as though he's saying that I needed 5 mentored visits to even become qualified as a level 7 unless I'm reading wrong?
"Once we have the approximate 5 mentor visits completed & I am happy to pass you forward for your level 7 the next stage can start.
I would say at this time let me try & arrange a visit to one of your next appointments & we can chat things through it will be much easier for me to gauge where you are".
Then there was some confusion when I said I thought I was already qualified and he looked into it and sent me this :
"Right you have now given me the full information i can help you more.
When you passed through the course you should have started emailing me your appointments so I could organise your mentoring visits. This was all explained in a letter given or emailed to you after the course.
We are now a few months down the line but we must go through the procedure to fulfill the FA requirements.
I have spoken to Steve by text tonight & he has agreed if we get through the mentor visits & I clear you as a level 7 he can still organise the observations by the end of the season as long as you fulfill the rest of the requirements.
One thing I can tell you from now is contact now is paramount firstly with me for mentoring then Steve with all other appointments so he can organise his observations.
I hope this helps you
"Right you have now given me the full information i can help you more.
When you passed through the course you should have started emailing me your appointments so I could organise your mentoring visits. This was all explained in a letter given or emailed to you after the course.
We are now a few months down the line but we must go through the procedure to fulfill the FA requirements.
I have spoken to Steve by text tonight & he has agreed if we get through the mentor visits & I clear you as a level 7 he can still organise the observations by the end of the season as long as you fulfill the rest of the requirements.
One thing I can tell you from now is contact now is paramount firstly with me for mentoring then Steve with all other appointments so he can organise his observations.
I hope this helps you
In the old days, being on your own following the course was common practice & to some, perhaps many, including me, it wasn’t a bad thing. I certainly got to learn things very quickly and provided me with a solid grounding from the word go. This approach may not suit many these days.
I think we might be comparing apples and oranges here.
Football has evolved significantly over the years, and with that, the role of the referee is under more scrutiny than ever before. Given this, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a higher level of support.
Newly qualified referees today are far more likely to face criticism, abuse, and even assault — something I highly doubt was as prevalent in the past.
I didn’t say that you shouldn’t expect a higher level of support & I was attempting to get across that since it appears you are not, you can perhaps turn a negative into a positive. You would not be comparing apples and oranges. The only difference between then and now, is that more is publicised/known about, whereas in the old days/my days (which relatively speaking is not too long ago), things weren’t even known about. I was still assaulted on more than one occasion and attended Court in a police prosecution.
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It is the same as it has always been, the difference is in the past there was no social media so things were only ever reported, at best, locally. Now if a referee is assaulted it is all over social media, Ref Support UK are involved, it gets blanket coverage. And I'm not saying that is a bad thing, rather it is a relatively recent phenomenon.
I was assaulted when I was coming through my initial promotion, a player threw a water bottle at me. Granted this might not seem that severe, but it was a full 2 litre bottle that luckily only caught me a glancing blow on the head. I was being assessed at the time and the assessor came to the disciplinary hearing to give evidence. I also had another one where a player chased me all around the pitch, and had other players not intervened that would certainly have resulted in an assault. These incidents were back in the late 90s / early 2000s, so never got any online publicity, but they still happened.
@Gio I know the mentor visit etc seems like faff when you want to kick on and progress.
But I assure you, they are a god send. Having someone come out and give you advice, especially if they are credible is amazing.
I get some of my best feedback from old boys on the line that knows their stuff.
Other than that you're on your own until an observer is tearing you to pieces.
But I assure you, they are a god send. Having someone come out and give you advice, especially if they are credible is amazing.
I get some of my best feedback from old boys on the line that knows their stuff.
Other than that you're on your own until an observer is tearing you to pieces.
Though the role of an Observer is not to tear anyone to pieces but to aim to develop, much the same as mentor or coach, but set against specific criteria. If there are such Observers out there, then that’s a real shame.
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Agree. The role of the observer is a supportive one. It may not feel like it to the referee when there is development areas in a referee's performance but ultimately when we're out observing we are trying to help.
I'm a but confused about the whole 'Super Mentor' thing. I am a Mentor & an Observer myself, and as a Mentor I would never have so much influence? I am asked by RDO to go and Mentor new referees, and I'm there mainly to encourage & show the referee the ropes. Maybe a couple of bits of development, but as new referees, it's just about helping them through the first few games.
I wouldn't be involved in any promotion process, and any questions asked of me by a referee I would advise, but ultimately recommend they contact the RDO.
I wouldn't be involved in any promotion process, and any questions asked of me by a referee I would advise, but ultimately recommend they contact the RDO.
That most definitely isn't the case. There's always been abuse and assaults. There just wasnt a platform to document them. But they were prevelant for sure. Ive referees almost 500 games and played in double that, ive been around the block in football. I'd argue that there has been a reduction in 'respect' for the role of the referee in the last decade, mainly due to constant criticism & focus on decisions in the media, but the number of on field incidents is probably the same as it always was. It will vary regionally of course.