What should I do?

[SammyT5]

More of an open rant to be honest. What happened here is partially my fault but I am also slightly annoyed at the club.

I was allocated a youth County Cup fixture for this Sunday, which I was available to take. The appointment came through last Sunday. On the appointment it said that kickoff time was 11AM.

On Tuesday morning I decided to make plans with family in the afternoon, for after my game had finished. Then on Tuesday evening the manager of the home team messaged me to tell me that there was a pitch clash with one of the other youth teams at the club. He asked me if we could move the fixture to 2 PM, which of course by this point I could not do, as I now was unavailable on Sunday afternoon/evening. I told him that I wasn’t happy with that and would not be able to remain on the fixture if that happened. He then responded politely telling me that he was going to move it anyway and just request a new ref.

I don’t really have a problem with this, however I would like to place it on record somewhere that this was not a consequence of me incorrectly closing dates as I don’t want it to impact my chances of getting other County Cup appointments in the future. At what point is it acceptable to make plans for a match day? Should I have waited until the manager had been in contact?

 

[Tealeaf]

Contact the appointment officer at the county and let them know the circumstances.

You were available at the scheduled time, but not at the rearranged. They won’t be unreasonable if you explain and it won’t harm your chances later on. They’ll definitely prefer that to finding out through other means that you’ve withdrawn from an appointment.

 

[The Gump]

It's incredibly common - or is in youth games at least - that the kick off time will be different to the time listed when first allocated to a match in my experience. In fact, I'd go as far to say it's incredibly rare that the two are the same.

I also coach as well as referee, and invariably the kick off time is only confirmed between youth team coaches on the Tuesday/Wednesday before that weekends games.

Like you, I am juggling family commitments on Sundays in particular (my lad's football, daughter's hockey, family visits/social occasions) so unless I've blanked it out always check with the coaches before committing.