Referee Retention - Open Letter

[Mike Whelan]

I'm one of the newly qualified Ref's he's talking about and he infact did my training course only 3 weeks ago. He's a great guy, truly committed to referring and is doing all he can, but there is a huge shortage of refs. I've done 5 games in two weekends and all the managers have said they've been warned about the huge shortage of refs for this season.

On the course it was mentioned a few of the level 4's couldnt past the fitness test but i think it's all a recipe for disaster now. Where ref's user to grit their teeth and get on with it they arent anymore because of the current climate of the world, why risk your health to jeering from managers, players and parents when you can just not do it and your life isnt any different?

I had two games today one was great and not a single issue, the second all the players on both teams were constantly bickering with each other, their managers and me.

A mixture of dehumanising referee's being normal behavior and the weight of COVID on all aspects of our lives is just putting refs off which i can completely understand. Especially when there's no real incentive

 

[Trip]

It's definitely the same in the two largest grassroots leagues in the South East. Very, very short of referees.

I not suffered any major abuse, and certainly never felt physically threatened, but whether it’s me or not, or whether it’s got worse, I don‘t know but I’m just fed up of the niggling negativity towards me. I’m fed up of the low level whinging and moaning and I just wonder why I bother giving up my time

This echoes my thoughts exactly. And it's really just the last few weeks/months.

My league uses a registration system where you can specify teams you don't want to referee. When the referee secretaries are appointing referees to fixtures they do it using a drag-and-drop interface and if they put a ref on a game he doesn't want it turns red to warn them. I'm going to be making use of this feature this season I think.

 

[HoofItYouDonkey]

I am a grassroots referee in Surrey and am in two minds as to whether to continue. I'm 62 now, and the pandemic and absence of football has somewhat weaned me off the game. I have many other pursuits that I could now follow at the weekend, and there is a danger that I am just refereeing because I have always been involved in some ways,
I have an injury that will clear up at the end of September and will decide next week.
Leagues around here are really struggling.

 

[OIREF!]

Lack of referees seems to be a nationwide issue post lockdown. Every year some referees will give up the game for a range of reasons but with 18 months of, at best, stop/start football I expect we will surely have lost more this season. RAs have been running on line courses through lockdown and I believe participation has been high. However, the transition from the course to actual refereeing is low. I think a lot of participants were just doing the course for something to do in lockdown and those who might have refereed have been restricted in actually getting games.

A similar situation probably applies to players and coaches. I've noticed few old hands missing from the touch lines since the start of the season and several teams aren't listing their full compliment of players and substitutes. It's a difficult time for grass roots football generally.

 

[es1]

45% seems a startling number. I didn't register that when I first read the article. I wonder how compares across the country?

i suspect it has a lot to do with kids taking the course for their duke of edinburgh (or similar) and not really doing it with the intention of carrying on much after the 5 games

 

[GraemeS]

Echo a lot of other comments here - coming back from 18 months on the sofa, I knew I wouldn't be fit enough to go straight back onto the promotion scheme, so have eased myself in very gently. And one match on a local league every 2 or 3 weekends already feels like a much more enjoyable balance than the promotion grind of being available and having to travel long distances most weekends.

I think my intention is still to give L4 one more shot next season. But if it doesn't work out, I could see myself sticking to about 2 matches a month for years to come and being much happier doing that.

 

[RobOda]

A mixture of dehumanising referee's being normal behavior

Yeah, that's fairly common and a massive issue everywhere.

I was reading a thread on a fan forum the other day, where they were criticising referees for not giving fouls for players who didn't go down when tackled/pushed. They were saying it was the ref's fault that diving is prominent and that players go down on contact etc, because they never give the fouls when they don't go down.

I pointed out that if the referee gave a foul in that specific incident, I would be my best set of flags that they would be moaning about referee's being 'soft' and that the 'game is gone' because they gave those type of fouls, and that football is a 'contact sport!'

You absolutely cannot win as a referee, fans always have some way to circle back and blame you and nothing is ever judged fairly/reasonably.

 

[OIREF!]

i suspect it has a lot to do with kids taking the course for their duke of edinburgh (or similar) and not really doing it with the intention of carrying on much after the 5 games

I agree, being able to say you're a qualified referee seems quite a good vocational qualification to put on a CV especially if you're applying for a sports based course of study. I know my local RA (under some external pressure) have even been doing referee classes in schools. There have been plenty participants in these classes. but almost no one progressing to actually refereeing matches.

 

[PinnerPaul]

I've been on the quality over quantity for a number of years now. Each to their own, but for me, just a few 'commitments', and take the rest as and when you see something you like, works for me and makes the whole experience much less stressful.

 

[Ben448844]

i suspect it has a lot to do with kids taking the course for their duke of edinburgh (or similar) and not really doing it with the intention of carrying on much after the 5 games

95% on my course 4 years ago were DoE. I couldn't get qualifying games because they were prioritising younger refs. A few short weeks later the leagues that wouldn't give me qualifying games were asking me to do games in their league.

 

[lincs22]

95% on my course 4 years ago were DoE. I couldn't get qualifying games because they were prioritising younger refs. A few short weeks later the leagues that wouldn't give me qualifying games were asking me to do games in their league.

This seems to have been the way for the past 10 years.
Pushing the youngsters forward, without finding out if they want to do it. I have been a mentor, but after they do their first few matches, they have no real interest in moving into OA matches.

The emphasis on the youngsters which remain pushes them too hard. A lot do matches to university, then they find out about and enjoying themselves, so they give up completely.

North Riding have lost so many 18 year old, who could have been excellent referees. The need should be to focus those who will remain long-term and not for instant boast to numbers.

 

[RustyRef]

One of the new KPIs for CFAs this season is conversion rates, i.e. the percentage of referees you convert from level T to level 7. I suspect that will mean there is more focus on avoiding this issue where lots of people just do courses for their DoE award and other things.

 

[bester]

One of the new KPIs for CFAs this season is conversion rates, i.e. the percentage of referees you convert from level T to level 7. I suspect that will mean there is more focus on avoiding this issue where lots of people just do courses for their DoE award and other things.

Some CFAs were doing £10 taster sessions to weed out the chaff, not sure if that worked.

Courses have been a disaster in many CFAs since the RAs stopped doing the courses, now the local RAs are so weak they'd struggle to pick up the slack.

 

[JamesL]

One of the new KPIs for CFAs this season is conversion rates, i.e. the percentage of referees you convert from level T to level 7. I suspect that will mean there is more focus on avoiding this issue where lots of people just do courses for their DoE award and other things.

What is the deal with DoE anyway - why do they, seemingly, force kids to do the ref course?

 

[bester]

What is the deal with DoE anyway - why do they, seemingly, force kids to do the ref course?

"To explain, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme (DofE), founded in 1956 and participated in by around 400,000 young people every year, includes a section on developing a new ‘practical and social skill’. Learning to be a referee counts and my son opted for it. As someone who watches football professionally, coaches at grassroots, and has occasionally had to take the whistle, it seemed a good idea to follow suit."

I trained to be a referee. Here's what it taught me about football

At an age when he should know better Glenn Moore has taken up refereeing - inspired, somewhat indirectly, by Prince Philip. Here's what he learned...

inews.co.uk

 

[zarathustra]

When I did my course I think Kent ran two one for DofE people and one for “normal” referees.

My course was still predominantly youngsters, who with the exception of one or two openly admitted they were just doing it for the money.

 

[Viking]

Shocked to find over 200 local league games in central Warwickshire didn't have a referee last Sunday.

 

[GraemeS]

Shocked to find over 200 local league games in central Warwickshire didn't have a referee last Sunday.

My local Sunday league has just sent out the email asking for referees. Across 10 divisions of 10 teams (ie 4-5 matches/division = just under 50 matches total), he's 21 referees short. That's basically 50% coverage, and I don't get the impression our Saturday grassroots league is doing much better.

 

[lincs22]

The next few weeks will be worse for the leagues. As County Cup matches start, they will pull all the referees they need. Any club not entered will struggle to have a referee appointed.

A question for the forum :

If a team finds a referee (when one wasn't appointed), should the away team pay their 50% of his fees?
(Our league splits the cost of the fees equally between clubs)

 

[lincs22]

My local Sunday league has just sent out the email asking for referees. Across 10 divisions of 10 teams (ie 4-5 matches/division = just under 50 matches total), he's 21 referees short. That's basically 50% coverage, and I don't get the impression our Saturday grassroots league is ding much better.

The York Saturday league has 41 matches this Saturday, with only 21 referees appointed currently.

Some of those are higher grade,.who could be called up to higher levels.

And the FA is encouraging more teams to be set up.......