The Ref Stop

Returning to refereeing?

J

JoeyR1708

New Member
Hi,

I'm after peoples advice! I took a break from refereeing back in October 2023 and haven't refereed since. The reason I stopped was it felt like every single game, the dissent was so much that I lost all joy of officiating. Back in the 2022/23 season, I loved it! I achieved promotion to Level 6, officiated 2 cup finals, one being a county cup final and I genuinely wanted to progress further however as I started the 23/24 season, as mentioned, the amount of dissent got so high and despite sanctions like Sin Bins and some Red Cards for Offensive & Abusive language, nothing seemed to calm it down.

I'm now moving up to Manchester where I'll transfer to the Manchester FA in August and I'm toying with the idea of coming back to refereeing. I was getting to a point with refereeing where I was working in a team of 3 officials and I loved it, it made such a change to having Substitutes as the ARs but when you go back to being the sole referee in a grassroots game, you feel so lonely.
I also don't want to give every single free weekend up to referee as there are times I want to be able to spend those days with my family.

Does anyone have any advice? Is anyone based in the Manchester FA and know if there's leagues that continuously work with a team of 3 officials? And Should I make a return to officiating?

Thanks :)
 
The Ref Stop
Im not with Manchester FA but I’m from not far away. The reality is that as a L6 there’s limited opportunities where you will be out regularly as the referee in a team 3. However, there is an U21 North West League that operates teams of 3 in its top division where you could be in the middle (but could also be appointed on the line or sent out on your own in the lower divisions) they play games typically on a Sunday afternoon. I haven’t done any games on there myself, but know it exists and is a decent standard, as most of the teams are Youth Teams of semi-pro sides.

Alternatively, if you just wanted to act as an AR and be with a team of 3 every time you go out, you could do the North West Counties League which operates at Step 5 & 6 and will have L4 referees in the middle. The minimum commitment to be on the AR Panel is just 1 Saturday a month so would give you flexibility to not have a game every weekend.
 
I referees on the NW U21 division about 5-6 years ago when it was in its infancy and the behaviour was very good back then, mostly. It was a good standard of football.
No guarantee of working in team of 3 but there were lots of opportunities to.
I think that's probably it until you get to the MFL which is (was) refereed by L4s and so you'd only have opportunities to work as an assistant referee.
 
JamesL said:
I referees on the NW U21 division about 5-6 years ago when it was in its infancy and the behaviour was very good back then, mostly. It was a good standard of football.
No guarantee of working in team of 3 but there were lots of opportunities to.
I think that's probably it until you get to the MFL which is (was) refereed by L4s and so you'd only have opportunities to work as an assistant referee.
Click to expand...
The MFL Prem operates now as mainly Level 4s, 5-4 Candidates and formerly level 4s and above. Since losing its supply league status it’s changed a little bit.

NW U21 League is really enjoyable still, and as James mentioned, whilst you’re not guaranteed a team every week, there’s plenty of opportunities to do so.
 
There's also the Lancashire Football League which is midweek U23 football, East Division covers some Manchester clubs. Usually a L4/L5 in the middle and always in teams of 3.

If you need information I can point you in the right direction to the Appointments Sec.
 
I’m Manchester FA. As above, I can point you in directions of RDOs and RefSecs.

Manchester League is your best bet to work in a team of 3 regularly, but as has been pointed out, you can’t just walk onto the Premier Division middles equally

There the North West Youth Alliance (U18). That’s similar to the NWU21 and has teams of 3 regularly, and a better chance of working in the middle with assistants on occasions.

Sunday leagues depend on which area of Manchester.

Generally:
North - Rochdale & Bury SFL
East - Hyde & Oldham/Stockport SFL
South - Manchester Amateur SFL/Cheshire & Manchester SFL
West - Eccles SFL

Any questions, feel free to drop me a PM or reply to this
 
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