Apologies for the slightly contradictory thread title, but it sums up the situation I'm in at the moment. For context, I've been refereeing for 14 years (qualified at 14) and have mostly done grassroots and Academy games with the odd OA game thrown in. I picked up an injury which pretty much wrote off the 17/18 and 18/19 seasons and have just started doing league matches again this season.
I'm now injury free and really enjoying my refereeing again; it's a very welcome escape having been in the equivalent of Tier 3 since July, my club marks have been good and I've had very few issues with players/coaches. All of my league matches have been U15 and above and I'm also doing games for my local EFL team Academy, so the standard has been decent, but I just don't feel like it's really a challenge anymore. I'm slightly reluctant to go to OA as the few games I've done have been of a really poor standard and I've had numerous issues with player behaviour, which has been off putting to say the least. I've also only ever been allocated to one county cup game despite numerous conversations with RDO's who have assured me that I'm on their lists and moving from Lancs FA to Manchester FA; I always make myself available at the weekend and add closed dates in good time, so I'm at a bit of a loss to explain this.
Now, on to the dilemma. I have a stressful job in law with relatively long hours which means that it's almost impossible for me to be available in the evenings and sometimes means that I'm unavailable at the weekend (often at short notice). I haven't ever pulled out of games and have worked around them, which is fine at my level as there is limited travel, but this could be an issue higher up the chain. I've always accepted that this will limit me in terms of going for promotion and moving up the levels and I think a year of OA and then going 7-6 would be doable, but that would probably be my limit..
With that in mind, I'd really appreciate some input/suggestions on what I can do within the confines of my career to try and progress. I feel like I'm in a bit stuck at the moment.
I'm now injury free and really enjoying my refereeing again; it's a very welcome escape having been in the equivalent of Tier 3 since July, my club marks have been good and I've had very few issues with players/coaches. All of my league matches have been U15 and above and I'm also doing games for my local EFL team Academy, so the standard has been decent, but I just don't feel like it's really a challenge anymore. I'm slightly reluctant to go to OA as the few games I've done have been of a really poor standard and I've had numerous issues with player behaviour, which has been off putting to say the least. I've also only ever been allocated to one county cup game despite numerous conversations with RDO's who have assured me that I'm on their lists and moving from Lancs FA to Manchester FA; I always make myself available at the weekend and add closed dates in good time, so I'm at a bit of a loss to explain this.
Now, on to the dilemma. I have a stressful job in law with relatively long hours which means that it's almost impossible for me to be available in the evenings and sometimes means that I'm unavailable at the weekend (often at short notice). I haven't ever pulled out of games and have worked around them, which is fine at my level as there is limited travel, but this could be an issue higher up the chain. I've always accepted that this will limit me in terms of going for promotion and moving up the levels and I think a year of OA and then going 7-6 would be doable, but that would probably be my limit..
With that in mind, I'd really appreciate some input/suggestions on what I can do within the confines of my career to try and progress. I feel like I'm in a bit stuck at the moment.