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The Referee Association (RA)

SWilmot

SWilmot

New Member
Level 4 Referee
Hi all,

I've been attending the 'local' RA (it's an hour's drive due to the Bristol RA no longer existing) for a bit over a year now and want to know people's thoughts on the RA, and why it would seem that numbers are dwindling?

I am interested to know what people's thoughts are on the RA, are they members and why? If you attend an established and well supported RA, what makes it work well? If you're not a member of the RA, why not?

What role should the RA play for existing referees and new comers?

Bristol has 3 major park-football leagues and has a healthy number of clubs that play at step 5 and 6 - with a good number of local referees officiating on these leagues, albeit we are now struggling for referee retention locally. Yet for reasons unbeknown, we cannot seem to get or maintain a referee association in Bristol.
 
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I'm a regular RA attendee. I'd say there needs to be some development materials made available by the National RA / FA that are refreshed monthly so everyone's monthly meetings has something new to discuss and you come away feeling like it helps you improve your refereeing.
 
I am just always busy when the meeting are on. Usually refereeing. I sign up and I really want to attend. Just literally always been busy.
 
SWilmot said:
Hi all,

I've been attending the 'local' RA (it's an hour's drive due to the Bristol RA no longer existing) for a bit over a year now and want to know people's thoughts on the RA, and why it would seem that numbers are dwindling?

I am interested to know what people's thoughts are on the RA, are they members and why? If you attend an established and well supported RA, what makes it work well? If you're not a member of the RA, why not?

What role should the RA play for existing referees and new comers?

Bristol has 3 major park-football leagues and has a healthy number of clubs that play at step 5 and 6 - with a good number of local referees officiating on these leagues, albeit we are now struggling for referee retention locally. Yet for reasons unbeknown, we cannot seem to get or maintain a referee association in Bristol.
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Presumably you're going to Gloucester RA? There was talk at the end of last season of a Bristol RA being formed but I left the County over the summer so I'm unsure how far along that got?
 
OnlyUseMeWhistle said:
signed up, hear basically nothing from my local branch, probably won't be renewing
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I had similar issues last year, I think there's an issue when signing up to the National RA rather than with the Local RA that your name/email isn't shared correctly so you can miss out on the notifications/emails
 
Ben448844 said:
Presumably you're going to Gloucester RA? There was talk at the end of last season of a Bristol RA being formed but I left the County over the summer so I'm unsure how far along that got?
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We attend the Cheltenham RA, but there has been no movement/mention of the RA in Bristol since, I fear the referee development officer left and with it so did the aspirations for the Bristol RA to begin again
 
CaptainsPlease said:
I'm a regular RA attendee. I'd say there needs to be some development materials made available by the National RA / FA that are refreshed monthly so everyone's monthly meetings has something new to discuss and you come away feeling like it helps you improve your refereeing.
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This is good in-sight and something I will look to present our local group at the next meeting.

There's also a gap in the local FA courses and RA with referees qualifying and little to no support being provided to those newly qualified referees where I feel it is the ideal opportunity to reach out to the new referees to encourage them to meetings and provide additional training and insight to improve their game/confidence
 
SWilmot said:
I had similar issues last year, I think there's an issue when signing up to the National RA rather than with the Local RA that your name/email isn't shared correctly so you can miss out on the notifications/emails
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I tried to find the local one and the details are out of date sadly!
 
SWilmot said:
Agreed, it needs to broaden it's appeal more
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Sounds like these meetings are much like our local referee association meetings as well. Lots of veteran referees who are more interested in sharing war stories than in discussing relevant issues. Of course, there is a time and place for these war stories so younger officials can learn from the experience of others, but that shouldn’t be the primary focus of these meetings.

Our association does have an option for people to join virtually since we have many officials from an hour away or more, but I personally think we need to make topics and training more relevant to the younger crowd.
 
Local RA’s are certainly struggling in many areas- my one being one of these.

There has been a lot of instability in the RA for many years now, with constant changes to their board etc. Due to this, I think the training and support they can offer is somewhat lacking.

People have mentioned that the societies are full of older referees who like to talk about the past. But bear in mind that RA evenings can also be a somewhat rare social occasion for them. Whilst this has an element of truth to it, this is simply because many younger referees don’t want to attend. Why? Probably a multitude of reasons, but main ones off top of my head would be:

Local RA’s don’t tend to be signposted to newly qualified refs

Games are now played 7 days a week. So referees are quite often out on a game

Gaming- a lot of younger refs (and some older!) now have easier access to gaming. So maybe they'd prefer doing this in their evenings

Travel- many younger refs will struggle with getting there. When I started going, I must have been 15/16. An older ref I knew from running their line lived around the corner, so he’d give me a lift. But now due to safeguarding, this becomes a tad more difficult.

Lack of comms from the RA- they seem to randomly send out emails with information, but the randomness and lack of consistency maybe mean they get missed.

Lack of knowledge of what the RA and local RA do- I think there’s a lot of people who don’t actually know what they are. Although I’d say RA subscription is fully worth it for the insurance alone.

Rising prices- as with most other things in the current climate, the prices to join are going up. Yes match fees tend to have gone up in many leagues, but I think people are being more careful with how they spend their cash.

And many other reasons!
 
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Big Cat said:
RA meetings are dominated by old men. A bit yesteryear in my experience
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Not mine to be honest. Sheffield RA certainly isn't run by old men and has a varied mix of ages. I only attended virtual meetings of Gloucester FA, it was too far away really from East Bristol where I was living. I now life somewhere with an active RA and they do alot. Like all things, you need proactive leaders who are going to arrange things and not just drift along. Organise trips to games, get speakers in, think outside the box.
 
Ben448844 said:
Not mine to be honest. Sheffield RA certainly isn't run by old men and has a varied mix of ages. I only attended virtual meetings of Gloucester FA, it was too far away really from East Bristol where I was living. I now life somewhere with an active RA and they do alot. Like all things, you need proactive leaders who are going to arrange things and not just drift along. Organise trips to games, get speakers in, think outside the box.
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I applaud them if they’re able to do so. I am by no means a martyr, nor was I doing it single-handedly but trying to run and reinvigorate a struggling RA was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. In the end I walked away and handed it over to a group who seemed to want to take it on, only for them to fold it later that season.

Our record attendance at one stage was 17, the first time I did something based on 5 Live’s Fighting Talk. The next month we were down to 6, of whom only 2 were active referee. I accounted for 50% of the active contingent.

I fought and fought to keep that going but not enough people wanted to make the effort.

Even doing the newsletter for another RA for 2-3 years was hard as people rarely contributed so I soon ran out ideas.

It can be a slog unless you’ve got the high profile members who attend, as they have the connections and leverage to get the “big” speakers in. Otherwise you’re faced with ever diminishing returns.
 
Tealeaf said:
I applaud them if they’re able to do so. I am by no means a martyr, nor was I doing it single-handedly but trying to run and reinvigorate a struggling RA was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. In the end I walked away and handed it over to a group who seemed to want to take it on, only for them to fold it later that season.

Our record attendance at one stage was 17, the first time I did something based on 5 Live’s Fighting Talk. The next month we were down to 6, of whom only 2 were active referee. I accounted for 50% of the active contingent.

I fought and fought to keep that going but not enough people wanted to make the effort.

Even doing the newsletter for another RA for 2-3 years was hard as people rarely contributed so I soon ran out ideas.

It can be a slog unless you’ve got the high profile members who attend, as they have the connections and leverage to get the “big” speakers in. Otherwise you’re faced with ever diminishing returns.
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That sounds like a near impossible situation to be fair.
 
Big Cat said:
RA meetings are dominated by old men. A bit yesteryear in my experience
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It's true.

Years ago, before the internet etc. the local RA was basically the only support/guidance/contact that a referee had with their fellow officials (outside of match day). Not so now.

Younger referees just simply don't want to drive several miles to attend a "meeting" of generally older (many retired) people discussing stuff they can learn about elsewhere.
 
Kes said:
It's true.

Years ago, before the internet etc. the local RA was basically the only support/guidance/contact that a referee had with their fellow officials (outside of match day). Not so now.

Younger referees just simply don't want to drive several miles to attend a "meeting" of generally older (many retired) people discussing stuff they can learn about elsewhere.
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I agree to some extent. Plenty of older refs at RAs & running them. Perhaps because they have the time to do it. But there are examples of active RAs not just run by old men that make a real effort and are of a benefit to members. I'm a member of an RA now and they provide alot of ancillary kit ie tracksuits, polo shirts & coloured match shirts to members. But it all takes alot of organising and it needs members of course. The majority of referees in are doing it for a bit of extra money & won't fork out the membership fee in my experience (and that's understandable for many).

I'd like to see a link with the FA where they put an extra few quid on your registration fee and every ref is automatically enrolled into their local RA. An extra £3 for example wouldn't stop people registering but would provide healthy funds for RAs & maybe then refs would be more willing to go to meetings etc if they're automatically enrolled. Won't happen of course but it would be great to trial it for a year.
 
I think social media/forums and such answer a lot of questions that were once asked at RA meetings. So younger people don't really see the appeal. I think RAs should be getting in touch with the FAs and when the referee courses are taking place, they need to be sign posted to their local RAs.

Local RAs should capitalise on the new blood, try and get them involved right from the starting course. Make it a good environment for new and old.

One of my greatest experiences is from the local RA, they had Anthony Taylor speaking days before he refereed the Europa Final final.
 
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