North Riding FA ready to get tough to protect match officials
Sunday League pledges to pay for prospective referees to go on course next month
The North Riding FA has launched a new policy promising to ‘Get Tough’ on anyone who offends or intimidates a referee.
A series of initiatives have been put in place to support referees, these include tough sanctions against all offenders.
This includes the introduction of mentors being assigned to all new referees, unannounced visits to games by North Riding FA observers, Monday morning referee clinics to help support officials, education programme for clubs and regular training/ support with four local referee association groups.
Sanctions for offenders include 10-year bans from the game for those found guilty of assaulting a match official, and, six-month bans with £150 fines for those guilty of being abusive or threatening towards referees.
A referee hotline has also been set up for North Riding match officials to help support those reporting any incidents of such behaviour.
North Riding FA chairman Len Scott said: “Our recent referee development programme has been very successful and we are deter- mined to protect this.
“While we hear of problems nationally, we’re proud to see the North Riding FA buck this trend and we will not stand for anyone misbehaving towards our match officials.”
Referee development officer Ross Joyce added: “There have been recent stories nationally of the problems faced by match officials.
“Refereeing 22 players on a field can be a lonely position to be in and as a result North Riding has decided to offer local match officials increased support.
“We are seeing great progress in the county’s referees and we are determined to do everything we can to see that continue.”
The North Riding FA is not immune from problems, there has been a slight increase in reports of poor behaviour towards match officials in the past year, something that the county FA is determined to reduce.
John Campbell, chairman of North Riding’s referee committee said: “The County FA expects to make over 300 unannounced visits to grassroots games in the next year.
“Observations will be made on behaviour towards referees as we strive to set a standard for all players, club officials and spectators to follow.
“We do not want to see trends being reported elsewhere develop here.”
The North Riding FA are running a course to train up new referees in Scarborough next month at a venue to be confirmed, which will hopefully help ease the current lack of match officials in the local Saturday, Sunday and junior leagues.
Sunday League chairman Mark Plumpton said: “We are looking to promote this as much as possible with the incentive of the league to pay for the course on the grounds the official agrees to referee within our Sunday League.”
The course, which runs from April 12 to April 30, is open to anyone who is interested in officiating 11-a-side or nine versus nine football matches.
The course provides participants with an insight to the laws of the game and their practical application on the field of play.
It also looks at the skills required to be a referee.
Successful participants would become a qualified referee to either Level Eight youth referee or Level Seven junior county referee.
The full cost of the course for all ages is £130.
Those who are aged 16 and over will also need to complete an FA CRC (Criminal Records Check) which is included in the cost.
Anyone wanting to sign up for the refs course can contact Jennifer Bennett on 07702 736701 or email her on jennifer.bennett@northridingfa.com