Ok with old news and strictly speaking & as we all know it’s up to the Home club to contact the Referee. However, in your old case they didn’t and they had replaced you. So although not really just up to you, there will be occasions in every Referees career when if they want to ensure everything is fine, then they have to find a way in which to contact the club & some ways are usually straightforward & some are not. I’ve just had to contact a club in the last few days because they hadn’t contacted me. I didn’t have to do because my appointment is on the only official list (MOAS), but even for courtesy etc, I will always then make contact with them & I've always found a way to find out contact details of a club. However, I’ve been around the block a few times so am like a dog with a bone. You are just starting off so not expected to be the same for you, but hopefully from the comments on these threads, hopefully you’ve picked up some tips.
Appointments (official / unofficial)
- Thread starter The Ginger Ref
- Start date
I was in a similar situation with work/sons football games/wife being self employed and general childcare. My son’s league doesn’t appoint referees and it is up to the home team to source, which inevitably ended up being me as I coach the team with another person. However, I live in an area between 2 Sunday leagues and would often contact the ref sec of either on Saturday and would usually find a game. I always apologised for the late notice but they were generally happy to have a ref available to cover a game to avoid a ‘club ref’.I’d be interested to hear the thoughts of the forum, though I’ve worded this carefully as I know some colleagues from my CFA may have seen this interaction.
A club sent out an email this week to "all league referees" asking if anyone was available to officiate their game next weekend. The email also suggested that there would be many more opportunities to referee for that club moving forward. The ref sec rightly stepped in, explaining that the proper process for assigning referees is through them. Fair enough, right?
However, this is where things get a bit muddied for me, as the email also stated that referees shouldn’t be taking games through these unofficial arrangements.
Without labouring this point too much this year, when I first qualified, I was essentially left to find my own qualifying games. I relied on Facebook referee groups and contacting clubs directly, which seemed to be the standard and recommended process unless you were already affiliated with a particular club.
From a club’s perspective, there simply aren’t enough referees to cover what feels like 300-400 games each weekend. Inevitably, they have to rely on parents. But many clubs are also aware that some referees might be available at short notice. For example, I’ve picked up games last minute after being contacted directly by teams I’ve officiated for before. I typically block out dates with the league if I’m unsure about my availability to not cause an issue, but sometimes I find I’m free and can still take a game on a Friday or Saturday.
As we all know, thousands of games go ahead every weekend with unqualified referees, qualified "club" referees, and more often parents stepping in. I’m part of a Facebook group where referees regularly take on games "unofficially." We’re talking about Sunday youth football here, where referees are volunteering their time (as has been described on this forum). Is it unreasonable for referees to prefer officiating at a local club just five minutes away, knowing they could potentially referee two or three games in a day, rather than enter the lottery of being sent all over the county to clubs that may not be as welcoming?
I do recognise that this could raise concerns about fairness and potential bias. But, as the saying goes, "life isn’t fair," and I don’t believe there’s a widespread issue of biased or corrupt refereeing at grassroots level
To be clear, I have no issue with the official availability and appointment process — I know that when I’m available, I’ll always be assigned a game. If anything, I know my only chance of getting a cup final is by being officially available through the season. However, it does feel like there’s a significant conflict here that needs to be addressed.
I have occasionally picked up a game from a club ringing me directly, however have always informed the ref sec just to check one hasn’t been already assigned. Plus various local Facebook groups looking for refs I’d invariably always find one.
I think it’s reasonable to only want to referee locally to get 2/3 games at the same venue. I know my ‘local’ Saturday league, closest venue to me is over 20 miles!
santa sangria
RefChat Addict
Reminds me how lucky I am here with the whole country’s matches going through the same system with a (quite) well resourced combination of automated assignment, ref coordinators and well functioning online systems.
What’s the underlying issue in the UK? Is it too few refsecs, lack of universal system, not enough refs, league admin culture, training for admins/refsecs, where would you spend money?
What’s the underlying issue in the UK? Is it too few refsecs, lack of universal system, not enough refs, league admin culture, training for admins/refsecs, where would you spend money?
A combination of most of those things but ultimately it’s mostly down to lack of Referees, but numbers are going up (just above those leaving), but takes some time to get through the process etc. There probably is a better process for newly qualified Referees to find leagues to move onto.