A&H

Quick hello and some needed advice

I

Ian Topping

New Member
Hi, just a quick hello, and self introduction.
I'm 38 and 2 weeks ago hung up my playing boots . For the love of the game , I just can't walk away , so I've enrolled on a referee trainee course, starting Sunday 3/4/16.
I've been familiarising myself with the laws and been having a good read up of this forum, which is great btw, but can't seem to find a couple of answers, so here goes.
I'm doing my training with Lancashire FA , but with more research it looks like Manchester FA would have been more local. Is it possible to swap counties once qualified or in the future?
Secondly , is 38 too old to reach the heights I dream of ?
Many thanks in advance )
 
  • Like
Reactions: SM
The Referee Store
welcome.

Yes you can, but you can also have "affiliate" mmbership to a 2nd county. So you pay up for one and become a quazi member of another. Or you can swap your main membership

Depends what you dream of - I understand that last season someone was promoted to FL line at 58 (?!?), and age limits have been aboloshed. TBH you may face some ageism as they look to the <20yo as the future, but if you meet the standards, there's no reason why not.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SM
Welcome to the forum mate and good to hear of others taking up the whistle when their playing days are done. :)

Think HRW has answered your questions.

One question for you: When you started reading the laws of the game, how many times did you say to yourself "well I never knew that!" ?

Good luck with the course. Any questions or queries, feel free to post them.
 
Ha yeah, there's a few cropping up . Having been a captain for most of my playing days the coin toss law was a surprise (hangs head in shame )
 
  • Like
Reactions: SM
SM said:
One question for you: When you started reading the laws of the game, how many times did you say to yourself "well I never knew that!" ?
Click to expand...
I still do that now :p

I am joking before I get jumped on[-spoiler]
 
I did the exact same, did my course with lancs FA and then joined manchester FA. If you phone manchester and ask for chris kavanagh, explain to him you want to change over and he should be able to sort it.
 
I have half a feeling that you're not registered with a county until you complete your training.

Ian, I started at 35, I'm 40 now and just waiting to here from the FA if I'll be invited to become a Level 4. Next season I could be running the line on the Ryman league, last season I ran the line in the FA cup (THE FA CUP!!), anything is possible.

The most important thing I've learnt this season (aside from blowing up as soon as the Assistant flags, doing what you say you'll do in your pre-match, not needing to look up in the air at the ball and remembering that signals and cards are to communicate to everyone not just the player you're dealing with) is that until you become a top-level ref you've never going to get everything right, you'll make less mistakes than most players and that each game is a chance to learn something new as you move up.

Good luck.
 
Cheers guys, I passed my course yesterday. So the question is , should I do my 5 games with Lancashire or can I get in touch with Manchester FA now? I'd prefer Manchester if I was being honest.
 
Ian Topping said:
Cheers guys, I passed my course yesterday. So the question is , should I do my 5 games with Lancashire or can I get in touch with Manchester FA now? I'd prefer Manchester if I was being honest.
Click to expand...
I did my five games with Lancashire so that way I knew i was fully qualified and there couldn't be any **** ups when you switch over
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top