The Youth Football Guide – No. 9: Referees

Welcome to the ninth installment of a small series of serialisations of my book “A Guide to Surviving Youth Football” If you like what you see and want to read more please do go and purchase a copy of the book by going to amazon.

Referees

Without Referees there wouldn’t be youth football. Plain and simple. Not many people want to be, or have the character, to be a football referee. Unlike in the Premiership where there are barriers and stewards between the referee and the angry supporters, cameras that film every moment and players that have to try and be role models, none of this exists in local youth football. On some occasions the referee of a local youth football match can be more worried about getting out of the ground safely than about their performance.

When you have forty thousand fans in a Premiership stadium shouting abuse at the referee it’s just noise and it is hard for the referee to pick out individual faces of the abusers. In local youth football it is easy to see who the people shouting abuse are as there won’t be many people there so it is more personal. The referee in local youth football will then have to walk past the same spectators that may have been abusing them to leave the pitch, and go to the same car park to get their car to leave the ground with no one stopping the angry spectators from coming up and speaking their mind.

In local men’s football it’s the players which are going to cause the referee the most grief and problems, whereas in youth football more often than not it is the parents who are the problem. If a parent sees a referee not disciplining a player that has fouled their child, or giving a free kick against their child then the referee will become public enemy number one and normally a tirade of abuse will follow. If the parent is a ‘win-at-all-costs’ type of parent then they will complain at any perceived injustice to the team as a whole and not just their own child.

Just like the players and spectators in local youth football the facilities for referees will be limited with no safe place to store your things whilst you are out on the pitch and no shelter to be had at half time. If you are very lucky one of the clubs may offer you a drink or an orange at half time but teams who do this will be few and far between. You will take abuse for the length of the game and then you will be asked if you can do the next game and come back to do it all over again.

In local youth football some referees will claim expenses or receive a fee that the league sets for how much you have to pay the referee. This is usually a nominal amount which may just cover expenses. Many referees however will waive the fee as if a club has, say, ten home games a season and the fee for a ref is ten pounds per game then that means it is an extra one hundred pounds that the team has to find a season and if there are a number of age groups at the club the bill can really start to rack up.

www.theyouthfootballguide.com

(Image Courtesy of nicksarebi)

About the author

adamsibley has written 18 articles for Soccer On The Brain

After qualifying as a referee Adam qualified as a football coach and got involved coaching boys teams for Liskeard Junior Football Club. After some successful seasons with the boys he then started work as part of a team pioneering girls football in the town. He now coaches three girls teams at Under 12, Under 14 and Under 15 level. Last season the Under 12s were crowned county champions and the Under 14s won the Cornwall FA Fair Play Award. He is also a Child Welfare Officer. He works in the media industry so this is his other passion and through this he has launched his own book on youth football called "A Guide to Surviving Youth Football"

Sam

One thing that strikes me about junior football is the way that foul play that would not be tolerated at senior level (certainly not in the professional game) is condoned at junior level. Of course, this is a generalisation – and most likely subject to interpretation according to the allegiance of the referee (there is no doubting the fact that some people who may be qualified to referee are cheats – in fact I know of one club that sign a specific referee for tight games – a referee who is actually an assessor!).
Pushing, shirt pulling may not seem like a big issue at youth level but if the FA is serious about developing ABILITY it should not allow referees to ensure that the biggest and most physical players win out… Referees should be allocated on a random basis. The FA should adopt tighter rules for the under 15s on physical play to ensure that skill isn’t elbowed out of the game.
Sam

By the way – I notice female referees are even worse for allowing foul play to go unpunished. I noted an academy game my son played in was a blood bath – I reckon it was because the female ref didn’t want to appear “soft”. Just as some home referees go out of their way to appear fair so don’t give anything for the home team.
Sam

Sorry – are even worse is too strong. Can be even worse is the correct take on this issue.
http://www.andrew-crump.co.uk Andrew Crump

Sam I am with you there on your last comment. There is huge disparity between what is a foul at amateur level compared to professional. This week a player went over the ball with two feet and took me out (although he did get some of the ball). Not a foul! Amazing! The FA need to educate amateur and junior refs if we are to improve as a football nation.