I am new to refereeing and after previous advice given on here, I have opted to start at youth level 7v 7 and workup from there. How many games do people do per month? I only ref bi weekly as I don't want to burn out and just see reffing as a hobby rather than a secomd job. The second issue I am facing is pressure to ref games from both managers/secretaries and a local fa. I got told off for not advising of closed dates and had randomly allocated me a game I couldn't make. Meanwhile for ref secs, they're insisting on reffing games which is beyond my confidence level (I'm working from u11s and below to start off with). How do people manage this?
"Peer pressure"
- Thread starter Mattybuz
- Start date
ChasObserverRefDeveloper
Regular Contributor
It's a two-way relationship with the Appointments Secretary - if you are registered with a league it is up to you to keep them up to date re any dates you are unavailable.
Pressure from clubs is not your problem - tell them you get appointments from the league.
Up to you how many games you choose to do - if you are aged 16+ (you describe yourself as a Level 7) a 7 v 7 match is unlikely to burn you out(?)
Most of the newer referees in my area do 3 or 4 games a month, but as long as the league know your availability you dictate how many you will cover.
If you want only the younger age groups the mini soccer appointments secretary should respect that, but once you have done a few moving up a couple of age groups is a good move.
santa sangria
RefChat Addict
Imagine for a moment what it's like for ref secs and appointments secs... hundreds of refs, thousands of matches, dozens of weird requests, a vast amount of juggling, all to make grassroots football possible.
We all want more referees. And we are here because we want to referee. All we are asked to do is specify our availability.* It is not much to ask. And without it, grassroots football cannot function.
(*Strictly speaking some RefChat members do also stay fit and learn the LotG
)For your last point, if you get given a game you aren't comfortable with tell your appointments officer and they should be happy to move you to a lower game. Assuming of course it isn't already in the bottom division in which case they have little room for manoeuvre.
Almost all leagues in England, and CFAs / the FA, work on an available if not closed system, therefore if you tell them you are available on Saturdays and / or Sundays (or midweeks) and you haven't closed that date you are likely to get appointed to a game. The onus is absolutely on you to keep your non-availability up to data, or availability if they work on your opened rather than closed dates. At all levels of the game you will get grief if you regularly forget to close your unavailable dates and they subsequently have to replace you, and that grief will get worse the higher you go. Remember that these appointment officers are often volunteers with full time paid jobs, they are there to help you and the least you can do is keep your availability up to date.
Also think about the home clubs. I once appointed six different referees to a game over a five day period, the first five all kicked it back even though their dates were open. Every time the home club secretary had to confirm the game with the referee, she got fed up of it and asked me what was going on, and actions of the referees, or rather their inactions, made me look incompetent. It takes a minute to close a date, it takes a lot longer to appoint a referee to a game.
Almost all leagues in England, and CFAs / the FA, work on an available if not closed system, therefore if you tell them you are available on Saturdays and / or Sundays (or midweeks) and you haven't closed that date you are likely to get appointed to a game. The onus is absolutely on you to keep your non-availability up to data, or availability if they work on your opened rather than closed dates. At all levels of the game you will get grief if you regularly forget to close your unavailable dates and they subsequently have to replace you, and that grief will get worse the higher you go. Remember that these appointment officers are often volunteers with full time paid jobs, they are there to help you and the least you can do is keep your availability up to date.
Also think about the home clubs. I once appointed six different referees to a game over a five day period, the first five all kicked it back even though their dates were open. Every time the home club secretary had to confirm the game with the referee, she got fed up of it and asked me what was going on, and actions of the referees, or rather their inactions, made me look incompetent. It takes a minute to close a date, it takes a lot longer to appoint a referee to a game.
There is the problem of County Ref Secs not providing an appropriate process for closing dates. Google docs or similar. Many a time I've texted that I ain't available, only to get a game and then struggle to get off that game by doing all the chasing
That is down to each individual RefsSec. I made it very clear to my referees that I didn't accept text messages as a valid form of communication, email or phone call only.
County FA here was using pitchside and now we have moved to yes ref.
Many leagues and CFAs here moving to RefSec
My league has just moved to pitch side. Last year was massively difficult though, we had to email, (not even text as nobody had his number), the ref secretary to close any dates. A lot of the time we’d end up with a game anyway and then have to chase the appointment up.
LOL, I wouldn’t describe sending an email saying please close this date as massively difficult. It isn’t that long ago that referees had to phone the RefsSec, or even send a letter in the post
No, it isn’t massively difficult sending the email itself - it’s massively difficult when you get given a fixture for a date you have closed weeks in advance. Programs specifically made for closing dates are much easier.LOL, I wouldn’t describe sending an email saying please close this date as massively difficult. It isn’t that long ago that referees had to phone the RefsSec, or even send a letter in the post