Women's game pathway + men's

[davidmt]

Hi there,

I referee in the UK for a couple of seasons, should be L4 in January and will try to push for 3. I'm also L2 in Futsal, so I usually do a football game on Saturday and a Futsal one on Sunday.

I'm lately losing a bit of interest in the Futsal, for different reasons. I'm considering on swapping it for woman's football games, and maybe try the women's progression pathway, but I have litle to non experience in women's football in the UK. I would then do a men's game on Saturday and casually start with some women's game.

Is any of you doing both pathways, what is your experience like? At what level women's games start to work with ARs? At what level can it start to be enjoyable?

Any insight is appreciated!

 

[Steve Fall]

Hi,

I am currently a L4 in mens and 3W. To get to 3W you need to let your RDO know you want to progress on the womens pathway. There you will start as a 4W doing county and regional leagu games. There you need to meet the criteria to progress through the system.

In the womens pathway you tend to get AR's from the National league upwards.

A word of advice they are looking at "professionallising" (Excuse spelling) the womens pathway (as its shorter than the mens) and want dedicated officials - so a casual approach will not let you get too far.

 

[bester]

The bottom rung of women's football is often played at walking pace. There is no challenge to refereeing it.

I've done several games where there have been no fouls in a half, there's a temptation to start giving something for minor contact.

On the plus side for you they're now using men on the WSL. The previous appointments officer prioritised the gender of the referee over ability.

 

[CaptainsPlease]

The women's progression pathway is in a bit of flux at the moment as there are significantly more Level 3W officials than The FA wants to maintain. The updated performance criteria could result in a lot of reclassifications to Level 4W. The numbers being promoted to 3W could be more limited than in previous seasons.