Referees Needed At All Levels.

Football is a funny old game! I think a very famous player once coined that phrase (of course it was Jimmy Greaves!) Have many passing fads have we seen creep in and out of the game? I think one of the more bizarre ones this season is the one man centre – somehow it just doesn’t look right to see a lone figure turn round and boot the ball backwards!

One thing that will never change however is the good old referee! Now I can imagine that a vast majority of you will have read that last sentence and either groaned at it, or even said a few naughty words! Well, it’s only natural – they are like marmite, you either love em or hate em, there is no in-between.

The one thing however that still overrides anything is the simple and inescapable fact that we still need them! We haven’t found a better solution then the man in black running around and blowing his whistle. However, they are fast becoming an endangered species as numbers of recruits are falling quite dramatically.

Of course, news of Mr Halsey and his revelations about professional integrity, quickly jumped upon by Gary Neville and his cohorts, are certainly not going to help bolster numbers of people signing up, but something needs to be done and done fast to get people wanting to ref again!

Over the last few years, we have seen applications for referees fall as the numbers of FA qualified referees gets less and less and this has had an impact on the kind if service that we can offer. We have also had the misfortune of some leaving due to various reasons and sadly, although very rarely we are glad to report, because of abuse. Obviously this is something that we will not tolerate and if we receive a report on it, we will act and deal whatever punishment is deemed necessary. We work alongside the FA and as such, follow their code of conduct for respect to the officials.

Of course this doesn’t mean you can’t talk to the ref, we all enjoy a good moan about a decision and most of the refs we speak to are happy to listen and have some banter with the players, which is what it should be all about really.

We would urge anyone who can’t play the game, but would like to be involved in football to seriously consider becoming a referee. In Yorkshire, we are very lucky that both the West Riding FA and the North Riding FA run refereeing courses and of course the biggest reward is that you can come and ref our leagues! We have had many a comment from refs saying that refereeing 6-a-side matches has greatly helped them when they have done proper 11-a-side games.

So come on, give it a go. It might not be as bad as you think!