Courses are starting to restart and I'm still not sure...

[Ben448844]

There were 3 types of people on my course

1) The young ones mostly doing it as part of their DoE award scheme
2) The slightly older ones, most of whom saw it as an 'easier way' to earn money than doing a traditional Saturday job
3) The more mature ones of us who wanted to give something back to the game.

As far as I can recall, most of the ones in the first two categories have disappeared without trace. There were 5 of us in the 3rd group, 1 has given up, 1 only ever wanted to do it as he was a kids coach and wanted to be able to referee them properly when they didn't get refs appointed, 1 is a L5 (who can't pass the fitness test to get to 4) and 2 of us are L4's.

Don't fret about your age, it's really only a massive problem if you are aspiring to get to the FIFA list and haven't started in your early 20's at the very latest, otherwise it's not an issue at all.

I've mentioned this before on here but I couldn't get qualifying games after the course as they gave them all to kids who were doing refereeing as part of their DoE awards and had no intention of refereeing. I had to go to another county to get my qualifying games in and then I transferred to them permamently because they supported me with games. Literally 3 weeks later I was contacted by the leagues in my parent county as they were short of refs as most had not actually bothered to referee more than 1 game before giving up.

I understand the need to prioritise young refs and didn't complain, I just made my own way and my own contacts. I suppose the best advice I could give to a young ref who's thinking of starting is to make your own contacts. Do things off your own back as well as seek help from the RDO

 

[ChasObserverRefDeveloper]

I've mentioned this before on here but I couldn't get qualifying games after the course as they gave them all to kids who were doing refereeing as part of their DoE awards and had no intention of refereeing. I had to go to another county to get my qualifying games in and then I transferred to them permamently because they supported me with games. Literally 3 weeks later I was contacted by the leagues in my parent county as they were short of refs as most had not actually bothered to referee more than 1 game before giving up.

I understand the need to prioritise young refs and didn't complain, I just made my own way and my own contacts. I suppose the best advice I could give to a young ref who's thinking of starting is to make your own contacts. Do things off your own back as well as seek help from the RDO

This (DOE scheme) used to be a problem for tutors and Appointments Officers, but is far less of an issue now the course elements have changed to incorporate refereeing a number of games, and course fees have increased in England.
The CFA's now have a responsibility to appoint course members to local matches, and provide mentors if available.
The new course only has one evening and one full day of group work, designed to accommodate all age groups, and we find that although the majority are 14 to 16 we have a wide range of ages.
The previous course programme required 3 full days' attendance plus two evenings, which restricted opportunities for working adults, so the change should see more adults on courses.
We have Uni students on many of our courses.

 

[snap_RL]

I've just booked onto a Course for early May. Happy to play the role of old guy with greying hair... I've got those two skills nailed down.

I am expecting to see a load of younger lads on the course, including many teenagers. Will report back!!!

 

[Ben448844]

This (DOE scheme) used to be a problem for tutors and Appointments Officers, but is far less of an issue now the course elements have changed to incorporate refereeing a number of games, and course fees have increased in England.
The CFA's now have a responsibility to appoint course members to local matches, and provide mentors if available.
The new course only has one evening and one full day of group work, designed to accommodate all age groups, and we find that although the majority are 14 to 16 we have a wide range of ages.
The previous course programme required 3 full days' attendance plus two evenings, which restricted opportunities for working adults, so the change should see more adults on courses.
We have Uni students on many of our courses.

This sounds like a marked improvement and credit to those involved. The other barrier I had was that I had to travel nearly 2 hours away to find a safeguarding course as there were none in my county. Are these available online now? I did my renewal online last year but had to go to a course to pass the initial test.

 

[ChasObserverRefDeveloper]

This sounds like a marked improvement and credit to those involved. The other barrier I had was that I had to travel nearly 2 hours away to find a safeguarding course as there were none in my county. Are these available online now? I did my renewal online last year but had to go to a course to pass the initial test.

The course is moving to online, and the renewal is already online, as you said.

 

[Justylove]

This (DOE scheme) used to be a problem for tutors and Appointments Officers, but is far less of an issue now the course elements have changed to incorporate refereeing a number of games, and course fees have increased in England.
The CFA's now have a responsibility to appoint course members to local matches, and provide mentors if available.
The new course only has one evening and one full day of group work, designed to accommodate all age groups, and we find that although the majority are 14 to 16 we have a wide range of ages.
The previous course programme required 3 full days' attendance plus two evenings, which restricted opportunities for working adults, so the change should see more adults on courses.
We have Uni students on many of our courses.

This was a few years ago to be fair!

 

[Darren83]

Pass the course, give yourself a season and then decide if you want to carry on and if you do where you want to go with it.