NYFL News

  • REFEREE'S NEWS
    13 Jul 2010

    REFEREE'S NEWS.

    JED RILEY-Referee's Liason Officer, writes:-

    The developement of newly appointed Referee's in conjunction with the Notts FA will hopefully lead to both further recruitment and retention. This is my primary function on the MC Committee and is high on my priority list.

    A recent meeting convened at the Notts FA with all the major players in attendance proved very positive, at times feelings ran very high but in essence newly qualified Referee's will be passed on from the YEL at the appropriate stage and developement monitored by David Coote, County Referee's Developement Officer.

    Some candidates could well be directed straight to the NYL or indeed fast tracked to 'Senior' football. These decisions will be conducted under assessment towards the end of the training period.

    Other issues including allocation of officials to Shield fixtures and NYL under 18 and under 16 games counting towards Referee's promotion were also discussed at length.
    At last we have some worthwhile proposals on the table.

    As you are all aware the 'Respect' programme was wheeled out and training was well attended, we were all hopeful and still are that it's introduction would drive out bad practices and benefit the game we love.

    Roping off pitches and the wearing of the bespoke Captains arm bands however is not the be all and end all of the programme. Unfortunately I have witnessed unsatisfactory verbal exchanges recently, even in Cup Finals.

    The introduction of the 'Respect' programme has been used in some cases as a stick to beat people with, on one such fixture one set of supporters were berating the other set by shouting 'What do you reckon to that then Ref-where does that fit in with Respect'! Do I need to say more?

    The overriding fact is, however, that these bad practices are only evident in a very small minority of Clubs and this should not deter the good work shown by the majority.