News & Features

We're indebted to Jack Russell for bringing to our attention a recent interesting article on TheRefZone website

‘How long does it take to be a top referee? ', was a question thrown up at a referee workshop TheRefZone attended recently. Rather than think about it being a bottom to top process, it was suggested maybe to focus on the good to great process. In other words, work hard and focus on being the best referee you can be at any given level, and that is more likely to accelerate the process to being a ‘top' referee.

But what is a ‘Top' Referee?...  

By general understanding of someone being at the top, a top referee is an elite referee operating in the highly pressurised world of International and/or the professional game as we know it today. So how does a, new to the ranks referee, make it to the top. The process of enrolling on a referee course, passing through that and moving into a society to further your practical skills and actually refereeing is well established. But if everyone does that then why does everyone not get to the top.

As with players (and to an extent coaches), there is a competitive element about progressing and being selected to move on and up, once we all acknowledge that, then you can make up your own mind as to where your own idea of being a ‘top' referee sits.    I have seen some referees manage youth matches superbly well, but been less than happy at senior level. Equally not every referee at adult level has a ‘feel' for the youth game. Being a top referee doesn't necessarily mean being at the top.

So is being a top referee more about how you handle players, situations, the game, and the pressure, rather than someone who can recite the law book at the drop of a hat. Well, being a competent exponent of the laws is a must most would argue, but players, coaches and the watching masses would equally argue they want referees who can manage a match with the minimum of fuss and are consistent.

I'm not now going to discuss how referees are marked, graded and advanced (or not) by their assessors and respective unions, but more about how an individual referee can do everything they can to be the best they can be.

There have been studies and theories expounded over many years about talent v training, 10 years and 10,000 hours required to be an ‘expert' in sport and other fields of skill requirement, (feel free to look em' up Simon, Anders et al), fine if you are a young (teenage) official, but how does that apply to referees who more often than not take up the whistle later in life.

The answer is of course, it doesn't. What does apply is making the most of the time available to you and the support and development opportunities around you to improve yourself.                                                                                           Whilst an obvious shameless prompt in the direction of therefzone which offers weekly nuggets never before available to officials anywhere, it's also the ‘hands on' refereeing that improves those intangibles that often mark out a good or ‘top' referee. A while back it was asked that referees be better communicators, some recent comments suggest that's still the case, just not too much communication!

Our maxim of being in the right place at the right time to make the right decision is of course the essence of good refereeing, but there is so much in between that referees must master. The irony of coaches wanting referees who have a ‘feel' for the game is interesting, in that it can't be scored or measured but it may determine whether a referee is considered ‘top' or not.

‘We learn from doing' is a much used phrase, and the learning, development and any progress always comes with mistakes and hiccups along the way. The ancient Chinese proverb of, ‘Falling down 7 times but getting up 8' is all about recovering and sustainability. It encourages referees to continue their progress, seek improvement and not give in.

For us that means not giving up on being better than before, whether or not you do climb all the way to the top.

So in a nut shell, being ‘top' looks like it means....An application of the laws, at the appropriate time in a way that shows a feel for the game, and an understanding of the needs of the players, coaches, parents, watching supporters, your assessor and or referee coach and any other interested parties, whilst communicating it all in a way that just does enough, but not too much....

You see. Nothing to it!