There's no age barrier any more. Mark Mellor was promoted to the Football League aged 52, having recovered from a heart attack. Graham Scott and Roger East were both promoted to the Premier League in their late 40s. I only properly started refereeing in my 30s but still spent 5 years at each of levels 4 and 3, and possibly could have gone further had my knees not been made of glass ..!
You just need to be fit enough, good enough, committed enough (and yes, before someone else says it, that does mean available enough to move beyond L5) and the opportunities are there. To go from 7 to 6 and 6-5 most of those requirements disappear and you really only need to be good enough, yes you need to be fit enough but not anywhere near the same levels that you would need at L4 and beyond.
You just need to be fit enough, good enough, committed enough (and yes, before someone else says it, that does mean available enough to move beyond L5) and the opportunities are there. To go from 7 to 6 and 6-5 most of those requirements disappear and you really only need to be good enough, yes you need to be fit enough but not anywhere near the same levels that you would need at L4 and beyond.
