edit: can’t be bothered with the grief for having a little moan about a situation that I said was funny.
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Appointments officer funny moment
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Gabriel
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I don't like to criticise AOs because they have a lot to do for little to no money. However, your not the only one! In the space of 20 mins a few months ago, I was assigned to 4 games all at the same venue due to kick off back to back with no break (bar the first 2 which were simultaneous kick-offs!) by the 3 AOs in my league. And then they took me off 3 of them less than an hour later, and ignored my emails following. Carnage!
Same I’m fully empathetic with their jobs and how hard they are, but the last week or two has made my organisation really hard to pin down.
Oh boo-hoo. Sorry that the AO didn't meet your expectations. S/he are not your PA and may be dealing with a pool of over 100 match officials and with leagues trying to fit in final fixtures, they might make an error or two. Get over it. Service before self (NB Former Supply League Appointment Officer speaking).
Gabriel
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We were not criticising in any way shape or form. If you actually bothered to read the messages properly, we very clearly stated we are empathetic with AOs and don't like to criticise them. We were just noting that it has been chaos in several leagues recently for the reasons you stated.
Guess what happens if I don’t meet AO expectations? It’s a power imbalance that I respect because they’re volunteers so I’m polite and patient and the only place I have a little vent and moan is a semi-anonymous forum.
An error or two is not being unreachable for several match officials for weeks (not just me). All I asked was to pick up an empty game for them, literally trying to be helpful.
Thankfully they don’t have your attitude and are perfectly reasonable when I do interact with them.
Have you not thought that there might be a reason for them going AWOL? I've done that role over a number of spells, it is hard work, unpaid in most cases, and is often done by people who have full time jobs. I was normally quick in responding to emails, but if I'd worked a 12 hour day staring at my screen the last thing I would be doing is staring at a different screen when I got home.
And I will openly admit, referees that repeatedly annoyed me would go on my ignore list. I'd get people email me at 9am on a work day and then send chasers just a few hours later, despite me having repeatedly said that I don't (and can't) deal with refereeing related issues and questions during work days. And the ultimate of all ironies: those referees doing the chasing would inevitably be the ones that took an age to respond to emails I sent them, if they even replied at all. They would also be the ones that clubs complained about because they hadn't acknowledged the match confirmation email.
One referee left me an abusive voicemail at 1pm because I hadn't replied to his email from close to midnight the day before, the reason I hadn't replied is I was at the funeral of one of my closest friend's wife who had died suddenly and unexpectedly aged 34. Not surprisingly refereeing emails weren't front and centre of my mind. Lesson here is you never know why someone isn't replying to emails, you have no idea what is going on in their work and personal lives. It isn't like employment where if someone is off sick there will be someone else to cover them, RefSec really is a one man (or woman) operation.
So referees that annoyed me like this went on the ignore list and I instead used officials that could follow simple instructions and weren't rude.
And just putting this out there, most leagues are absolutely crying out for volunteers. Perhaps, just perhaps, if you think you can do better you could offer your services?
And I will openly admit, referees that repeatedly annoyed me would go on my ignore list. I'd get people email me at 9am on a work day and then send chasers just a few hours later, despite me having repeatedly said that I don't (and can't) deal with refereeing related issues and questions during work days. And the ultimate of all ironies: those referees doing the chasing would inevitably be the ones that took an age to respond to emails I sent them, if they even replied at all. They would also be the ones that clubs complained about because they hadn't acknowledged the match confirmation email.
One referee left me an abusive voicemail at 1pm because I hadn't replied to his email from close to midnight the day before, the reason I hadn't replied is I was at the funeral of one of my closest friend's wife who had died suddenly and unexpectedly aged 34. Not surprisingly refereeing emails weren't front and centre of my mind. Lesson here is you never know why someone isn't replying to emails, you have no idea what is going on in their work and personal lives. It isn't like employment where if someone is off sick there will be someone else to cover them, RefSec really is a one man (or woman) operation.
So referees that annoyed me like this went on the ignore list and I instead used officials that could follow simple instructions and weren't rude.
And just putting this out there, most leagues are absolutely crying out for volunteers. Perhaps, just perhaps, if you think you can do better you could offer your services?
I have offered and been an AO before. I’m attached to my phone like most under 30s so I reply quickly and keep my availability updated when I get a county cup game straight away.
Of course I don’t expect the same from someone volunteering and managing 100 people so I don’t chase until it’s either been at least a week OR the game is coming up soon and I want to know if I should find another game instead.
And being too busy is fine but if I then get the game off the deputy appointment officer because I’ve not been acknowledged for a month, it’s a bit annoying to then get an angry reply when thats literally what they’re there for.
I understand the job is hard, I’ve done it and I work hard on my admin to make their jobs as easy as possible when it comes to my appointments. Even with a baby and a 4 hour daily commute to my job.
It’s just a little vent I’m not that arsed, hence it being called “funny”. If my boss at work, who i hadn’t not met but emailed loads and spoke to on the phone several times suddenly acted like I never worked for them, it would be funny!
Gabriel
Well-Known Member
I do understand this and it goes both ways. My lead AO works part time 3 days and I don’t message them during their hours, just like I don’t expect them to (and they don’t) bombard me when I’m at school. It’s more of an issue when things aren’t communicated properly. But it is a difficult job to look after 350 officials and even more games in my league, so I don’t chase after a few hours. More like a few days.
You say you didn't like to criticise, then proceeded to do just that. Also, it's you're not your
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