A&H

Qualification system

one

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Having been on this forum for a while I have a fair idea how the qualification system works in England. I was interested to know how other countries work?

In Australia there are 4 levels of referees. L4 being the least qualified and L1 the most. You have to sit a course for each level and pass the theory exam at the end. You are then required to pass two field tests (assessment) to get a full qualification (only one field test for L4 and L3). The games for each level have to be of a minimum standard for that level. The only official age limits I know are 13 for L4 and 18 for L2.

There are 3 levels of assessors (the term observer is not used here).
There are also 3 levels of instructors.
 
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I have a daydream about growing old refereeing on the East Coast. I have a thing for Brisbane;)

In Finland, where we have real Baltic weather, none of this fake Baltic weather they have in England, we have quite a few levels, but I think this is because of the numbers of young small-side youth games we have with referee "supervisors" that are teenagers. 800-1000 games a week I have been told in Helsinki alone in peak.

Our levels are: Men's 7 up to 1 and then premier, women's 5-1 and prem, boys' 10-1, girls' 6-1. Assessors also have the same levels. We have separate levels for ref and AR. Roughly the top two levels are national/regional, everything else local.

So, I am now ranked (with the level I have actually done in brackets) : M5, W2, B5 (B4), G2 (G1) / and with the flag M3 (M2), W1, B3 (B1), G1.

Our M3 referees/ARs are, in my opinion, really very good across the board. Quite a drop off to M4 (I know, but I messed up my promotion game at the end of last season:( ). Small country, tiny crowds, lots of astroturf!

Fitness test is cooper test with modest target up to M3 and then higher introduces parts of the FIFA test.
Classroom training is quite informal, written tests are brief and are not pass/fail.
Promotion is essentially anecdotal, with assessments, team comments, feedback from colleagues taken into account.
In my experience we have a good team vibe, good organisers and a great online system, which helps.
 
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