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Welcome to the website of the north Devon referees. Site updated Friday 27th January 2012 North Devon referees are pleased to be supported by the
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Any views or opinions expressed on this website are not necessarily supported by either the North Devon Referees Association or the Devon County FA unless stated otherwise |
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FORMS AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD
The following forms are all downloadable from the following links
Referee Training in Devon
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County RA Quiz 2009 Results.
All the scores/results from the 2009 County RA quiz along with all the questions and answers can be found HERE |
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All the old photos/articles can now be found on the ‘Photo Gallery’ page here |
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Items of local interest which can be found by clicking on the title
Sports mad Andrew is on the ball (A good piece from the Journal on Benno!)
Gomez’s journey may end in Premier League
Brett aims high in football as the all-important man with the whistle (Piece from the Journal just before Christmas)
Pictures from 2010 local cup finals Information on promotion applicants
Ref Bennett makes his debut in League (First north Devon ref to take charge of a Football League game)
Wait and see is key to getting it right (Andy Bennett on offside from the Journal)
Former Refs are picking up the whistle
(The above two pieces appeared in the North Devon Journal)
(North Devon RA’s president Brian Pearce honoured!
Tony Cloak in the Independent
It’s official…Huxtable has ref potential North Devon Journal Thursday 6th August 2008
Andy Bennett reveals his inner thoughts, taken from ’Refworld’ the website from the PGMO
Brett’s article, and picture from a past Journal
Suggate takes a cautious approach to cautions |
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Fixture ‘Swapping’
It is not unusual for referees to ‘swap’ fixtures with each other. This is normally done at the request of one of the referees involved and done for many good reasons. Whilst in principle no-one has any big problem with this all referees intending to ‘swap fixtures are asked to check with our appointments secretary, Mike Stevens, before confirming the change with any clubs. Not only is this a matter of courtesy it is also important to let Mike know in case any assessors are due to visit or that Mike might well have made other arrangements unbeknown to the referees involved or could well have other plans. So please remember any changes to any local appointments must be notified and confirmed with Mike Stevens. |
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More articles from the Nationals!! The following stories can be found here
· This unbridled criticism makes it impossible to create respect for officials · Rise in assaults on referees at grass-roots level · ‘Castrated’ referees want second chance · Halsey relishes ‘odd couple’ relationship · Until the sport learns to show respect, football will get the referees it deserves · You don’t ask for respect…..you demand it · Fifa’s gilded elite find it all too easy to ignore an inconvenient truth. |
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Bits and Pieces
Mileage Claims
When claiming expenses for travelling, referees are reminded that the mileage should be from their home resident to the ground and return by the shortest route. The amount of mileage claimed for must be put onto the team sheet in both North Devon Gazette and Kingsley League games.
Injured players to leave pitch
Once a trainer/physio enters the field of play to treat or assess an injured player then that player must leave the field of play and not return until the game has restarted. He then should only enter the field of play from the touchline. The only exceptions are goalkeepers and if two players from the same side should be injured at the same time. Whilst the above has been in the laws of the game for a couple of seasons or so it was not always appreciated that it applied to all levels of football. There was a belief that it only applied to certain levels of football. As a result of this it has not always been strictly applied in our local football here in north Devon. Now all local referees are reminded that it must now be applied in our area. |
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Brett wins North Devon Journal Sports Awards 2011
Following his nomination for the North Devon Journal Sports ‘official of the year’ award for 2011 it was announced, at the awards dinner which took place at the Barnstaple Hotel on Thursday, November 17, that Brett took the overall 1st prize in this category. Also nominated in the same category as Brett were: Vic Gainey a well-respected local cricket umpire and Rebecca Manley a talented young netball umpire. Two other local football people had also been nominated in different categories. Darren Todd, Boca Seniors manager as ‘Coach of the Year’ and Edith Cook, Secretary of Hartland FC for ‘Outstanding Services to North Devon Sport |
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County RA Quiz
Under the command of captain Tony Cloak our branch team ventured down to Exeter on Thursday 3rd November to take part in the annual Devon RA quiz competition. Making up the team with Tony were Adam Sowden, Chris O’Brien and Rob Clark. Our branch was represented by a wealth of refereeing knowledge and experience……….and possible some knowledge of the Laws of the Game!
After a hard fought competition our intrepid quartet finish in 2nd place, out of the four teams competing. East were the successful team finishing well in front of our team with North East in 3rd place, only one point behind, and West finished 4th.
Adam was top score for our team with 12 points, then Rob with 11 and Chris, along with Tony (Captain and Level 3 referee) both scoring 10 points. Apparently our team could have challenged East for the title had not one of the team members scored a big fat zero in the first round. This major blow put our team at a big disadvantage, having then to play catch up for the rest of the competition. |
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Suspended players on match day!
At the last referees meeting a query was raised about the amount of involvement a suspended player is permitted on a match day. The following answer was received from Richard Pallot, disciplinary secretary of the Devon County FA ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Funnily enough I covered this in a discipline session with The FA last week, if a player is sent off then the ban is playing only and he is allowed in the technical area. If a player manager is removed from the dugout even if he is a named sub we are told to do it as misconduct as opposed to a standard because that way we can impose a ban from playing and the technical area. However if a player manager is warming up and is dismissed when not in the technical area then he is a player and he can go back into the technical area. A few feet makes a difference. In the higher levels of the game you need to name your technical area and who can stand etc, suspended players would never be there, however at a local level it’s common for suspended players to be present and if there is a technical area, to sit in there, unless there are too many people in there (I am not sure of the actual guidelines on numbers) a suspended player can sit in there as he is not a named sub, however should he misbehave then he will get a misconduct charge. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Insulting, offensive and/or abusive language Mick Tattersall Secretary North Devon football League The League has had a complaint regarding foul language being used in a game that was watched by a Parish Council Member. This has resulted in a letter being sent to the league and to the club stating that if this is not looked into the club faces losing its permission to use the pitch. Now there are a lot of clubs that could very easily be in the same position so I have decided to draft this email for you all. As this is the first complaint of this kind I do not want to take a very strong stance on this, so please see below as what action has been taken. Referees are being asked to speak directly to club managers/captains before the game to warn them about the use of foul language which will not be tolerated. Referees will issue a warning to offending player/s and if that warning is not used then the Player/s will be dealt with according to the laws of the game. This will only be used for mild cases and/or possible frustration outbursts. Should a player/s over step this mark then he will be dealt with in accordance to the laws of the game. Although it is the responsibility of the match Referee to deal with these types of cases, the League would also like to think the clubs will take some responsibility as well and deal with unruly players who are consistently using foul language. We would like to request all clubs inform your managers regarding this email and for them to speak directly to players regarding this. A lot of people think that foul language is now part of the modern game and should be accepted but this is not the case and should not have be accepted or tolerated. The laws of the game are clear but it’s the difference tolerance levels of some referees as to where they draw the line. In Season 1997-1998, the wording of Law 12 was changed. The sending-off offence of “Foul and Abusive Language” was replaced by “Using Offensive, Insulting or Abusive Language”. This change meant that that Referee on the day, can now decide what is ‘offensive’ or ‘insulting’. Because of human nature, every individual Referee has his own tolerance level as far as bad language is concerned. FIFA gave the following reason for this change: A player may now be sent off if, in the opinion of the referee, he is guilty of using language or gestures, which are offensive or insulting or abusive. The referee must take into account the severity of the offence. He continues to have authority to decide weather, in his opinion, a player’s unacceptable language or gestures are to be deemed a sending off offence, This allows the referee the option of cautioning a player for unsporting behaviour or dissent, as appropriate, if, in the referee’s opinion, the offence committed is not serious enough for the referee to award a sending off. There is a good write up regarding foul language and tolerance levels at http://www.corshamref.org.uk/wordmap.htm, might be worth a read if you have the time. The league has spoken with the Referee’s Appointments Board and the North Devon Referee Association to pass this information on to our local referees, as well a copy of this email being sent to any referees who has an email account on file with the league. The North Devon Gazette Football League would appreciate everyone cooperation with this. |
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Cautioning & sending off players Jason Haywood Referees Development Officer Devon County FA
I would like to take a few moments of your time to discuss what happens after we issue red & yellow cards. I am sure that each and every one of us in life has at one time or another made a decision then later thought ‘why on earth did I do that?’ This thought process is not uncommon in life and certainly not restricted to just us referees as we carry out our duties on and off the field of play. We all follow a thought process when we take the action of cautioning or sending off players and take into consideration many factors such as speed of the challenge, volume of the dissent, nature of the game, etc, etc. The vast majority of the actions we take are accepted by players and managers alike, especially when we are given the opportunity to explain our thought process before we came to make that decision to take action. Some players will never accept our decisions even though our justification was sound and secure and they just have to accept it, but what happens when we as referees question our own actions and decisions when we reflect on our performance? No matter what we think on reflection we are still required to report what we saw at the time and what action we took, whether that be cautioning a player, sending a player off or removing someone from a technical area. The sudden attack of conscience may occur but we still report the incident as it happened. It may be prudent to include a separate note with your report, identifying your thoughts that on this occasion you may have been incorrect. This will not alter the processing of the action you took but may give the discipline department a bit of a warning as to what a club or player may be ringing them up to discuss! The new discipline processes are now well embedded on Devon football and only mistaken identity or video evidence will alter any action that is taken. Should you show a player a red card and report it as a caution or indeed not even report your caution then you may well face disciplinary action yourself. Already this season 3 referees have been suspended for not reporting cautions & sending offs and these cases were identified to us by the clubs themselves. So, how do we avoid this? 1. Don’t guess! – As a referee or assistant referee you can only take action against what you have seen. If you’re not sure then you can’t do anything about it. How many times have you heard a player shout at you ‘you didn’t see him kick me first ref!’. Yes player, you are quite right, I didn’t see it, therefore I cannot do anything about it. 2. Take your time – sounds simple doesn’t it but having an incident occur in a game means that the first thing we as referees do is calm the players down, but how about us? Taking our time, slowing our breathing down and regaining composure will allow our thought process to be clearer, allowing us the best opportunity to assess the situation and take the correct action. 3. Have a thought process – Set a checklist in your mind for major decisions that you work through each and every time. Speed? Distance? Conditions? Would they have an obvious goal scoring opportunity? Each individual will have their own but have one. Lee Probert talked about his at the recent RAFA event in Exeter. 4. Have no doubts – be sure of the action you are taking, talk it through yourself before you pull the card out. Please remember to report what happened during the match so that someone doesn’t report you. |
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Latest updates · Latest Appointments for Brett
· Sunday League appointments for Sunday 29th
· Latest fantasy league Tables here (Up to 24th January and final tables for the last month) |
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Latest Updates
The following four excellent pieces from some of the national papers are certainly worth reading. To view them just click here
Wenger attack on Oliver off target Arsenal manager’s criticism of referee after Swansea match was badly judged but typical of modern football
Zero tolerance for human torpedoes Worries about the game emasculated are outweighed by injuries from two-footed tackles
Mancini’s card trick is a farce
Footballs artists must be protected from the Neanderthal tendency |