i hope you feel better after thatReally?
So "we" are all better off now that Mark Clattenburg has taken his money grubbing ways to Saudi?
Amazing
I referee and am paid a notional amount for my labour. It covers my costs for training, buying/replacing equipment, travel, memberships and registrations. It also puts a bit of money in my pocket for the time spent refereeing. (Sometimes I'm told even that might be too much!)
Refereeing is a skill and not everybody has the temperament to do it. So exactly how will the game benefit by getting rid of all the referees who expect to be paid for their time on a Saturday or Sunday?
Speaking to a number of Leagues and CFA officials there is an ongoing national shortage of referees. It gets discussed a lot in committee. There is a big churn with young referees leaving the game when they go away to college plus older referees retiring and there is not a huge reservoir of people wanting to give refereeing a go. For those who do take the plunge they have to pay maybe £200 to get themselves set-up before they even know if they will enjoy being in the centre, making mistakes in front of an audience and often being treated with the utmost disrespect.
The Banbury Lord Jersey (Saturday League) used to struggle with referees. They increased the match fee by £10 and now all their top league matches are covered.
LOTG aside the typical job of the referee is to ensure 22 men play nice so they all can go to work on Monday morning without a broken leg. On many games I struggle to get 2 Club Assistants to help me with ball in/out of play leave alone offside. Many players don't know the LOTG, so how is that going to work when cards need to be issued by a Club Referee during "difficult" matches?
Real world problems are not solved by utopian solutions. It is utterly irrelevant whether a Referee is running around in the January rain to escape his wife and kids or for £25 cash. Football needs more FA qualified referees to raise the quantity and quality of refereeing.
More referees and better referees might possibly lead to increased participation in football at all levels. What is clear is that fewer referees would contribute to a decline. So how would that be a good thing?
We live in a democracy and everybody can voice an opinion. I just disagree with this one.
Rant over...