Give refs their own academy

The question was raised this week about whether football is now big enough for a Referees’ Academy to be introduced. I cannot think of anything more important.

Week after week we watch televised footage of referees and assistants making decisions which are criticised.

And yet none of us truly realise how little training and development is available to officials to enable them to carry out their duties.

At Premier League level, we have a body of full-time referees. But below that, our officials need some more help. In my mind, the whole process of thinking around refereeing needs to be updated to move with the modern game. Key issues must involve: Selection: We see very few ex-players moving into refereeing and yet these guys are very well placed to understand the nuances of the game.

I totally understand that a good player doesn’t necessarily make a good ref but many will. Surely more opportunities should be created to harness ex-players on a fast track basis.

Consistency: Referees need to be helped to develop consistency by being given more thorough training. They need to be guided more carefully so that they all have a common platform of understanding about the way things should be done.

Decision Making: The BBC produced an excellent documentary last week in which human decisionmaking was evaluated.

Officials need to be given every help possible to improve their powers of decision-making beyond the human fallibilities which were highlighted in that Horizon programme.

It is a complex emotional and psychological process to reach a decision.

The best decision-makers find their way through it by awareness and constant practise.

However hard we try, certain decisions will always be tough to make.

But we really should try harder throughout the Football League to help the officials to get it right and an Academy would be the perfect centre stage to help that happen.