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U18 school game

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spuddy1878

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Am I right to knock a game back U18s due to the match fee being only £20 ?

Felt a bit awkward giving thre reason but that’s well below the going rate isn’t it ?
 
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That’s £2 more than I get for doing an open age game
 
There isn't really a "going rate". Every league and County is different. I'd suggest that a school match would be expected to pay somewhat less. I'd further suggest a more altruistic approach to refereeing at grass roots level. ..
 
I know fees are different everywhere but think the referee Secratery or whoever make the decisions are in a good position to negotiate a better deal.

I don’t know about the situation around the country but where I live there is a shortage every weekend and games are being postponed because of it.
 
That does seem low, but as others have said, fees vary wildly.

I got £35 for all ages (U14s, 16s and 18s) last season at 2 public schools near me.
 
I watched my mate refereeing an open age County Cup game last weekend (Several counties away from where I live) and he only got £20.

To be honest @spuddy1878 I think it's poor form to turn down a game for this reason.
I think younger refs are motivated by the fee for obvious reasons
I'd referee for zilch (or just a saucer of milk)
 
I know fees are different everywhere but think the referee Secratery or whoever make the decisions are in a good position to negotiate a better deal.

I don’t know about the situation around the country but where I live there is a shortage every weekend and games are being postponed because of it.
The irony in this post..
 
Am I right to knock a game back U18s due to the match fee being only £20 ?

Felt a bit awkward giving thre reason but that’s well below the going rate isn’t it ?
£20 for assistant referees in the prelim rounds of FA Cup
 
It's all about balance. Generally games with lower fees are appointed in pairs or more to make the trip worth while or appointed to a person who lives very close by. Otherwise you'd do them to get brownie points with the ref sec (or whomever doing the appointments). Turning down games for a not strong enough reason means you are moving down the preference list when there is a favourable game to appoint.

Ppl who appoint, in most cases, have unwritten rules of operation to make the job easier and make it work.
 
What would you be doing instead? If you’ll just be sitting at home, I think you know the answer to your question
 
Folks, this is really really easy. Leagues, clubs, schools choose what they wish to offer officials to referee their matches. Officials choose whether to accept the money offered. It's a simple free market system which will therefore take into account the differing levels of eagerness amongst officials to referee and differing levels of desire from those organising matches to have those games refereed.

The only complication to this comes with more prestigious appointments from the FA / County where (in some cases) lower fees are offered and the choice to turn down these games restricts the opportunity of the official to take other games that day.

I can't see any reason to have a go at a referee for turning down a particular game because of the money on offer, or to have a go at the organisers for the money they choose to offer ......
 
Every year I do a grass root tournament for nothing. Over the year I get paid by clubs all over my county so the odd freebie is not an issue. For my adult league I end up doing cup finals for nothing and have done charity games where I donate my fee. Schools may not be up to the level of some leagues but they have budgets. I would ref an U18 schools for £20. It is only 5 less than the going rate but I wouldn't travel that far it would have to be local. I try not turn down any game and because of my flexibility if I need a favour from my appointent officer I am looked after. It works both ways as I have done favours for them where I have travelled to far to make it worthwhile but they remember those occasions.
 
That’s more the issue, it would have taken me an hour to get there as no transport today and had to have got little fella picked up from school so the overall package if you like became easy to say no.
 
Your prerogative, but I wouldn't recommend it if you are going for promotion. Promotion candidates will often gets lines on early rounds of the FA Cup, Vase, Youth Cup, etc, and the fees aren't great. FA Youth Cup is £17.50 plus mileage for assistants, but the referee will almost always be driving so you won't get the mileage. FA Vase is £20, and for both it will likely be quite a lot of travel and you have to be there 90 minutes before kick off, so it is a long day for peanuts.
 
The vast majority of school games in Scotland are officiated for no fee whatsoever

This. I have no issues doing school games and I've never had a match fee - what's good about school games is they tend to be more relaxed (I'd love to see the reaction from the teacher coach if a player goes over the top) allowing you to concentrate more on your positioning and fitness (obviously you can't turn off) which you might not be able to do in a more challenging game.
 
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