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Career in refereeing

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HARUNH

New Member
Hello, i am 32 years old and want to become a referee, i am very fit and think i would be a good referee, please help me out with the questions I have below? I have been watching football all my life so I know all the basics - i have started the 5 module 2 hour training online and already complete 20% of it?

1: What age do referees retire at ?
2: Am I to old too referee if i am 32?
3: How long does it take to become a competent referee?
4: If I am 32 how high can i go in the ladder? Could i reach league 2 /league 1 / Championship level in England ?~

Sorry for so many questions and thank you for helping people
 
The Referee Store
1: There is no longer a retirement age. At grass roots there never has been, in the semi-pro and pro game you can carry on as long as you can pass the fitness test.

2: Absolutely not. I was older than that before I went up to Level 4, and five years older still when I went to Level 3.

3: Entirely down to the individual. Some do it very quickly, others never really become competent.

4: The promotion system has recently changed, it used to take at least 10 to 11 years to reach the top level, now it can in theory be done much faster. At 32 and not yet a referee you certainly wouldn't be making FIFA, but no reason you couldn't make the semi-pro game. Would be challenging but not impossible to make the pro game as a referee, but certainly achievable as an assistant.
 
Dependant on the time and effort you want to commit to it, and are able to commit to it I'd argue for all points, but Rusty goes into the proper bits of it there. However with a good drive behind you, a lot more is possible.
 
HARUNH said:
How do you progress through levels?
What is the highest level ?

Thanks
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You will qualify as a Level 8 and will then quickly move to L7 after your first 5 games and a follow-up classroom session.

The next two promotions (L7 to L6 and then L6 to L5) are run by your county FA and each involve 20 games, of which as least 3 will be observed. Traditionally these are each carried out over the course of a year, but this requirement has now been removed and it's more down to how long it takes you to complete the 20 games.

From there, the various steps between L5 and L1 are all treated differently, with various different observation and playing requirement, as well as regular fitness and LOTG tests. L1's are then picked to join SG2 (which is roughly the Championship) and from there, SG1 (which is roughly the Premier League).

The other thing to know is that there is a split at L3, where you will be asked to choose between the referee and AR paths. Up to this point, you'll do a mix of the two roles, after this point you would specialise.
 
GraemeS said:
You will qualify as a Level 8 and will then quickly move to L7 after your first 5 games and a follow-up classroom session.

The next two promotions (L7 to L6 and then L6 to L5) are run by your county FA and each involve 20 games, of which as least 3 will be observed. Traditionally these are each carried out over the course of a year, but this requirement has now been removed and it's more down to how long it takes you to complete the 20 games.

From there, the various steps between L5 and L1 are all treated differently, with various different observation and playing requirement, as well as regular fitness and LOTG tests. L1's are then picked to join SG2 (which is roughly the Championship) and from there, SG1 (which is roughly the Premier League).

The other thing to know is that there is a split at L3, where you will be asked to choose between the referee and AR paths. Up to this point, you'll do a mix of the two roles, after this point you would specialise.
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Level 8 is u18 isn't it? Trainee level 9?

Total semantics as the premise of what you have put is sound ☺️
 
GraemeS said:
The next two promotions (L7 to L6 and then L6 to L5) are run by your county FA and each involve 20 games, of which as least 3 will be observed. Traditionally these are each carried out over the course of a year, but this requirement has now been removed and it's more down to how long it takes you to complete the 20 games.
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That's changed now. You need 25 games, of which at least 10 must be in adult football, and instead of 3 observations you need 2 match day coach reports.

You can now opt in to promotion at any point in the season, and you can be promoted every quarter, not just one (or twice) a year. As an example, if you are considered for promotion in December and it is decided your reports aren't good enough, you can get another report in the next quarter and be considered again to see if there has been an improvement. Full details below ...

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GraemeS said:
You will qualify as a Level 8 and will then quickly move to L7 after your first 5 games and a follow-up classroom session.

The next two promotions (L7 to L6 and then L6 to L5) are run by your county FA and each involve 20 games, of which as least 3 will be observed. Traditionally these are each carried out over the course of a year, but this requirement has now been removed and it's more down to how long it takes you to complete the 20 games.
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They're called level 'T' (for 'trainee') now rather than level 8. It's 25 games per level 7->6->5 and only two are observed.

Edit: I see you've been correct on this already. Even Rusty's table is wrong, despite being produced by the FA Refereeing dept. There is no Y2->7 promotion scheme.
 
Trip said:
They're called level 'T' (for 'trainee') now rather than level 8. It's 25 games per level 7->6->5 and only two are observed.

Edit: I see you've been correct on this already. Even Rusty's table is wrong, despite being produced by the FA Refereeing dept. There is no Y2->7 promotion scheme.
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The updated version is on The FA website for those interested.
 
Yes, they wrongly included the chart with incorrect wording in the "Games to Referee" section for Y2. Subsequently corrected and published as Referee Progression Pathway pdf.
 
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