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Getting my first fixtures.

L

Lewis Hart

New Member
I have just finished my basic course, and am now a level 9 referee.

I got in touch with a junior league, and they said they would ask the coaches about getting me some matches.

The other night, I got a call from a coach of a U13's side. He asked if I would like to referee their home matches. I said I would like to, and he offered me a £15 fee.

They only have nine matches at home, plus whatever happens in cup competitions.

I am now meeting him at their training session on Saturday to discuss things further, and have a look at the fixtures list.

Was this a bad idea?

Thanks in advance.
 
The Referee Store
Seems very unorthodox... Normally leagues will appoint you and numerous clubs can contact you.

What CFA are you under?
 
I wouldn't expect any league to allow a team to have the same ref each week. Especially at a young age. Will make it very hard to remain impartial.

I would recommend calling the ref sec for the league and checking what normally happens.

What I would expect is that your details are uploaded and teams call you each week to book you.

Just make sure the league know the manager has asked this of you and if this is a normal happening in the league as it seems strange to me
 
May well all be innocent and me being over sceptical but for your development I'd reccomnend officiating different teams across different divisions too. If you ref same team each week it will do you no good at all.
 
Over familiarity breeds contempt. Even at a young age group, doing the same team regularly could lead to its own problems.
 
Totally agree with all the advice about officiating a variety of teams to speed your development and ensure impartiality. Only excuse I can think of for the manager to ask you to do this, is if the league struggle to place refs in each age group (especially younger) and so he's trying to ensure he has someone rather than no-one! Certainly that's the case in one of the two youth leagues I've been previously involved with ...
 
Don't take these comments as anything about you lewis. The guys here are here for support.

Refereeing is 10% officiating and 90% reflection, listening and development.

I'm sure I've missed out some % for paperwork there but you get the point!

Welcome to the forum anyhow!
 
Thanks for your help! It has been really useful. I'm going to get in touch with the coach and league secretary tommorow.
 
Let us know what they say. If you end up doing this teams home games make sure on their away weeks you get yourself some other fixtures!
 
This is the same in the Sheffield junior league. The home manager arranges the ref and pays for them too. I personally think it's a rubbish set up. A few managers have given me their fixture lists and asked me which ones I can do but I try to mix it up a bit and ref different teams where possible. So it's not an un common thing @HertsFinest and is a good thing that you've got a team lines up @Lewis Hart.

The only time the league appoints refs is for the cup and trophy semi finals and finals at the end of the season and that is based on the respect scores given out by (you've guessed it) the team managers :confused:
 
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Our RDO appoints to the 3 main youth leagues around here. One on Sat AM, U8- U18, generally gets U12 up covered. The other Sat AM is up to U12, quite often the managers will need to find a ref. Sunday PM is U13 up and they pretty much get covered OK. The system started last season and seems to work ok after a few teething problems, mainly with geography.
There is a cost to the leagues for this to happen though.
Personally I don't like seeing the same team more than 3 or 4 times a season.
 
Well the coach did not even turn up to the meeting, so I have now contacted a diffrent league.

There is someone there who appoints matches to the referees, so it should be more organised, and their season starts next week.
 
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