Would your club pay for neutral referee assistants?

Around 30 referees, old and new, met on Thursday at the Lancashire FA headquarters in Leyland.

The league had invited Level 2B referee David McNamara to deliver a session on dealing with dissent, offensive insulting and abusive language, and mass confrontation.

David is one of a number of higher level referees who regularly helps out on the West Lancs when he is available.

Referee Appointments Officer Barry Cropp opened the meeting with thanks to those who were attending.

Members of the league committee were introduced including John Brown, Andy Hosker, Clive Davidson and Chris and Kath Hysted.

Barry thanked the group for their ongoing support in what has been a difficult season covering matches due to the national shortage of officials.

However, a positive note was that 533 matches had been played this season so far, with only four being postponed due to a lack of referees.

League Secretary John Brown delivered feedback from the recently held secretaries meeting.

John advised that a rise in match fee had been proposed to clubs, which was positively received and understood by all clubs.

Referees currently get £30 a match on the West Lancs with 28p per mile expenses.

The league is aware of what other local leagues are paying and would aim to match those.

However, referees were asked to remember that the league paid expenses for mileage due to the unique demands of the league’s geography.

The league had stood its ground on its ground grading criteria despite it not being necessary at grassroots level, and hoped that this would maintain the league’s standards, and its appeal to recruiting referees.

All clubs had been reminded of their responsibilities and behaviour at the meeting, and any club failing to adhere to the league’s instruction would be dealt with severely by the management committee.

So, it was sad to hear that two games had ended in a referee being confronted after their matches.

John promised that these clubs would receive further advice on behaviour.

The committee was asked if there were any thoughts on appointing neutral assistants to Premier Division matches.

John advised that those 16 clubs would be prepared to pay for neutral assistants if they could be found.

Barry informed the group that Premier Division clubs would be encouraged to contact their local junior league to recruit an up and coming referee to operate on their matches, with the purpose being to produce a production line of referees for the league in the future.

This had already happened at Blackpool Wren Rovers, and a number of other clubs including Hurst Green.

The possibility of using our current list for Assistant Referee appointments had been exhausted as the league already struggle to cover the scheduled matches each week with a referee.

The group then broke into working groups, and David McNamara (Level 2B National League Referee & Lancashire FA Referee Tutor) opened his session on dealing with dissent, offensive insulting and abusive language, and mass confrontation.

The group immediately interacted with David on what they perceived dissent to be, and the causes behind it.

Two clips were shown, both showing referees dealing with obvious acts of dissent, and the rights and wrongs of how it was dealt with were debated.

David discussed the use of the stepped approach. Firstly, a quiet word with a player who maybe showed a lack of respect for a particular decision.

Then, a more public rebuke where the captain would be invited to speak to the player. All before issuing a yellow card for dissent and the player being temporarily dismissed.

It was accepted that some offences were more notable, and where the referee was publicly undermined the sin-bin would be immediate.

David spoke about empathy for the game and understanding player reactions. In his own animated way, he provided the group with some excellent examples of dealing with players, how to approach them, and when to show humility if a mistake had been made by the referee.

The group spoke freely about their experiences in dealing with players, the use of offensive language in the game, and how times had changed based on society’s attitudes and what is perceived to be acceptable nowadays.

Briefly discussing mass confrontations, the group talked about best practice when operating alone on a league match.

Referees were encouraged to isolate themselves to get the best view of the incident, make note of offending players, and when necessary, take further action such as disciplinary sanctions, or even abandonment.

The group was advised to seek advice when compiling match reports for the relevant authorities, and to ensure that reports were accurate.

The overall night sparked some lively debate, and gave the referees attending food for thought ahead of their games at the weekend.

Hopefully, they are now better educated and prepared to deal with any negativity that comes their way.

The league plan to host a referees meeting at least twice a season now that football has returned, with the next meeting planned being a pre-season get together in July 2022.

*Meanwhile, five referees who operate on the West Lancashire League have been promoted by the FA.
James Atkinson, Ben Schofield, Daniel Wood, John Thomson and Jamie Law are now Level 4 referees and will now officiate on the North West Counties League and act as assistant referees on the Northern Premier League.