It's up to you really, most people suggest starting with youth to get some experience. I went straight into my university league (OA) and found I got much less hassle and aggro there than I did when I did youth. Entirely your choice.
How often are ref courses run?
- Thread starter NatCole
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It's up to you really, most people suggest starting with youth to get some experience. I went straight into my university league (OA) and found I got much less hassle and aggro there than I did when I did youth. Entirely your choice.
Yeah that's what I was thinking of doing to be honest as I feel I'd need time to get a hang of it.
I'm surprised by that to be honest. Maybe the fact that I'd be quite a young referee could mean that it'd be better to start in youth leagues as I suspect if people spot I'm younger and maybe inexperienced they could smell blood. Both categories could do the same though I guess.
The general consensus is that when you get a difficult match in youth football you get trouble from the sidelines, in adult football you get it from on the pitch.
Once you've got some experience under your belt and are comfortable using your cards, the tools for dealing with problem players are simple and straightforward to use - while the decision of if/when to confront a difficult manager is much less well-defined. But on the other hand, trouble from off the pitch leaves you with only the two managers to deal with, while difficult players might be easier to deal with individually, but the trouble could theoretically be coming from 22 players at the same time.
I think starting in youth and working your way up is generally good advice to be honest, especially for someone who's going to be as young or younger than many of the OA players. Which you'll end up focusing on long term however is something you'll only find out with experience.
Thanks for help. I agree. Only problem is with managers there's not much to do which you said.
BigStan
New Member
If you are in West Essex consider doing course with the AFA. The AFA are a county and operate a number of leagues. I ref in AFA leagues and believe me the dissent you get is minimal. http://www.amateur-fa.com/referees/development-and-courses/the-fa-referees-course John Monk is ypur man.
HarryD
Well-Known Member
If you jump into OA it’ll be a baptism of fire - it’ll take you a while to get into the swing of things and have your confidence at the level that you would like. I did literally 4 youth games first, making that massive step so soon was so good for my development, I wouldn’t have learned nearly as much and improved as quickly as I would have in youth football. I was refereeing men’s football at 17 years old. 100% recommend it!
Hopefully you’ll get an answer soon and join the dark side! (referring to kit of course
)
Hopefully you’ll get an answer soon and join the dark side! (referring to kit of course
)Aha. I got a response straight away from the Deputy Development guy (Lukas I think) and told me there's a ''Get into refererring'' workshop tomorrow. I think they're compulsory now. Not sure if I can make it but signed up incase. Any idea what they do there?If you jump into OA it’ll be a baptism of fire - it’ll take you a while to get into the swing of things and have your confidence at the level that you would like. I did literally 4 youth games first, making that massive step so soon was so good for my development, I wouldn’t have learned nearly as much and improved as quickly as I would have in youth football. I was refereeing men’s football at 17 years old. 100% recommend it!
Hopefully you’ll get an answer soon and join the dark side! (referring to kit of course
Nah, jump in. I started straight in with adults, was fine.
Less hassle than the kids in my experience.
Thanks. Yeah Lukas seems like a decent guy. Is it like a long presentation thing then?
How old were you when you started?Nah, jump in. I started straight in with adults, was fine.
Less hassle than the kids in my experience.
20-21 if I remember right. I had to look that up, jeez. >_>
I was very green, very wet behind the ears, but players didn't tend to give me much issue, nothing age-related anyway.
Unless you have big gonads start with the older yoofs, get some experience before you move up to the big boys, any fault with them can go really South very quickly whilst upsetting a few parents you can ignore them to some degree!