The Ref Stop

County cup fixture problems

S

SLI39

Well-Known Member
Unfortunately, last Sunday my brother received a phone call at no later than 2:25pm from a club official asking where he was. This was due to the fact that he was supposed to be refereeing a county cup match in five minutes. He apologised and replied that it was practically impossible for him to attend because he had been given no warning; despite accepting his explanation, she threatened punitive recourse to the FA (compensation for journeys etc.). Unbelievably, she apparently suggested that she could have him struck off, whatever that means!
I am not sure when the match will be replayed, but I expect it will be assigned to somebody else. He is usually reliable with his fixtures, but we trawled through his emails in search of any justification for their annoyance. There was no trace of any official assignment to this particular match. Moreover, I presume this club official could easily have contacted my brother at any point (even up to the night before), but chose 2:25pm on the day of the game to do so.
First, I think it should be made clearer when you register with a county that the subscription includes these county cup fixtures, which are often quite a distance from one's customary terrain. I have decided to opt out of this system because I cannot have that kind of uncertainty when weekends are already busy.
Second, to blame a young referee for the consequences of an administrative error when he has paid his fee and is operating legally within the county rules is, I think, very unfair.
Third, if the email failure should happen again, is there a way of checking online whether one has been allocated a match?

Thanks
 
The Ref Stop
for me personally, its poor from the club.

they should be confirming the week prior, and then if you haven't heard anything from the ref then AT THE LATEST the day prior you'd be calling 'Hi XYZ, I did email in the week but not heard back, are you ok for tomorrows game?'

if he has been spot on with everything then if she does complain the CFA will look at that and know it must have genuinely been an admin error and leave it at that
 
did you also check on Full-Time? all our County Cup fixtures are detailed on there and both clubs and referees (and assistants if there are to be any) are all contacted automatically by email
 
I agree, and I think it is safe to say that this club wouldn't have been particularly nice to referee for. They have taken the referee for granted throughout their preparations by assuming he'll just turn up. Even with county involvement, that's a risky assumption.
A couple of seasons ago I was contacted late one evening before a CC game, which gave me just enough time to accept it. But it does add to the impression that communication lines could be improved. It's a pity this didn't happen before I completed the annual survey.
 
richard ramjane said:
did you also check on Full-Time? all our County Cup fixtures are detailed on there and both clubs and referees (and assistants if there are to be any) are all contacted automatically by email
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That's the kind of information I was after, thanks. For whatever reason, the automatic email didn't come through on this occasion.
 
SLI39 said:
That's the kind of information I was after, thanks. For whatever reason, the automatic email didn't come through on this occasion.
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and also, the manager will get an email confirmation of who the referee is to be.
I am pretty sure you can retrospectively see who the appointed officials are (were) on the website
 
Its down to the club to contact the referee, so good luck to them in complaining to County that referee didn't turn up.

1st question will be "When did you notify the match official" - "5 minutes before kick off" isn't going to go down well!

As others have said for County cup appointments, referees should receive an email from Full Time - if club makes no contact a few days after that, then advice would be to contact club cc appointments officer.

Also, referee appointments (and dates of all subsequent rounds) should be on county website. Referees registered with county are expected to be available for County Cp fixtures unless date closed in advance.
 
PinnerPaul said:
Its down to the club to contact the referee, so good luck to them in complaining to County that referee didn't turn up.

1st question will be "When did you notify the match official" - "5 minutes before kick off" isn't going to go down well!

As others have said for County cup appointments, referees should receive an email from Full Time - if club makes no contact a few days after that, then advice would be to contact club cc appointments officer.

Also, referee appointments (and dates of all subsequent rounds) should be on county website. Referees registered with county are expected to be available for County Cp fixtures unless date closed in advance.
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of course, and to add to that , managers are encouraged not to text or email referees to confirm, but to actually pick up the phone and speak to them , i think for county cup that would mean 5 days in advance of the fixture.
 
When I was fixture secretary for the club my son played for (Did it for 2 seasons - that was more than enough!) I always used to call as text/email wasn't the "norm". However I have to say, ALL appointments/confirmations/changes come via text and/or email now - never speak to anyone until I get to the ground!
 
Agree with most of the above posters - although appointments can be initially given by email from the league (often via full time), it's the responsibility of the home club to confirm the fixture after that. Usually this is done by phone, but a text to the referee is the bare minimum. If they've failed to do that, they have no right to complain that you haven't shown up and your brother needs to be firm on that point.
 
Assuming your brother is also Berks and Bucks FA and this was a minor cup game, the competition rules say
"d) Confirmation of Match i) The Home Club shall prior to five (5) days before the date of the match notify by Email or Telephone the Visiting Club, Referee, Assistant Referees (if appointed),and Council Member in Attendance (if appointed) the location of the ground, dressing rooms and Club Colours. The Away Club shall seek and acknowledge receipt of such particulars. Failure to comply shall incur a fine not exceeding £25.00."
They don't have any option but to report the facts to the relevant authority, but they are the ones who will be in trouble. That's probably why they were so stroppy!
 
The most likely thing is your brother hasn't validated his email address for the Berks & Bucks competitions. Referees often assume that because they have validated it for other leagues that use Full Time that they don't need to do it again, but that isn't right and it has to be done for every competition that uses Full Time. If the email address isn't validated then fixture notifications will just disappear into the ether and won't be received by the referee.

That doesn't explain the lack of confirmation from the club though. It is of course possible they sent an email and they got the address wrong, or it has gone into a spam folder, but they should always ask for confirmation of safe receipt and chase up if not received.
 
Yes, I sensed straight away that the real nub of the club's frustration was the fact that the fault was primarily theirs. Hopefully feedback from the FA will encourage them to be more conscientious in contacting referees. I, too, remember officiating on leagues for which you received a phone call during the week of the match; it was always interesting to try to predict the conduct of the home manager from that brief conversation! That's no longer the case for me because our fixture secretary is a superbly organised middle man, but for cup appointments I think this example was sufficient to prove that emails cannot be relied upon. That said, I will pass on the point about email validation, as I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was the reason he hadn't received the allocation.
 
We have to confirm all county cup appointments to our referee appointment officer. And then the clubs are required to make contact a week before by competition rules so there is very little room for error such as this as rdo etc. will be chasing you if you haven't confirmed the game with them.. of course if the club doesnt confirm you attend game and they are reported to comp sec.
 
With my county you have to agree to accept county cup fixtures, I think it's expected that you do them.
My problem is I keep forgetting to copy the county cup fixtures secretary in on my closed dates, even when there aren't any fixtures.
 
Personally I find it hard to lay the full blame with the club. Yes they should have contacted in the preceding days but...

Surely whoever allocated such an important fixture would be requesting confirmation of its acceptance?

There is also a responsibility of all referees to check appointments for these types of games if they are issued on a non-email basis.
 
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