Ever thought of becoming a Referee....

[Steve88]

Under existing SFA standards it'll take you a total of 20 hours....

10 week course. 2 hours a week.

No wonder the standards are that bad up here :rolleyes:

Interesting watch...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvFngdz8lLk

[PaulSmith]

Under existing SFA standards it'll take you a total of 20 hours....

10 week course. 2 hours a week.

No wonder the standards are that bad up here :rolleyes:

Interesting watch...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvFngdz8lLk

And after that you’ll be able to referee a game of 10 year old laddies/lassie and not the Premier League?

[WoreTheGreen]

Not for me I come from Edinburgh and l knew my dad

[StevieT]

And after that you’ll be able to referee a game of 10 year old laddies/lassie and not the Premier League?

Agree. It takes a lot of hard work to progress. I started refereeing at 45 having just retired from 11s. I knew that I was too old to progress but worked hard and managed to get the under 17 Scottish Cup Final. People’ that think it’s an easy number should give it a go. You never know, you might enjyit. I know that I do.

[Viva_Palmeiras]

No thanks I’m sticking with my part-time gig dishing out parking tickets.
Although I could spare the hours I’ve got my eye on a part time bailiff role

[1 8 7 5]

Officiating in our top league rarely rises above abysmal.

In fact, take a step back and its ludicrous.

[JimBHibees]

Agree. It takes a lot of hard work to progress. I started refereeing at 45 having just retired from 11s. I knew that I was too old to progress but worked hard and managed to get the under 17 Scottish Cup Final. People’ that think it’s an easy number should give it a go. You never know, you might enjyit. I know that I do.

Not sure anyone thinks it is easy. :greengrin Some of the behaviours from the sidelines in youth and amateur games really is poor at times. There should be more protection and support for refs from all in the game.

[Sudds_1]

How did clancy mannage to get to spfl standard????

[Smartie]

How did clancy mannage to get to spfl standard????

When did Clancy get to SPFL standard?

[calumhibee1]

How did clancy mannage to get to spfl standard????

Because SPFL standard is ****ing atrocious.

The question for me shouldn’t be how did Clancy get to spfl standard, it should be how did SPFL standard get to Clancy.

[Fergus52]

How did clancy mannage to get to spfl standard????

Freemasons

[Hibrandenburg]

My 11 year old is thinking about starting next year. The DFB make it quite attractive for kids to go through the training and officiate games. There's a small amount of pocket money for every game they ref and they get free access to Bundesliga matches once they've enrolled in the scheme and football clubs are encouraged to put suitable candidates forward for training.

A Referee can earn €200 per game in the lower amateur German leagues and a Bundesliga ref earns €59 000 per annum basic pay and €5000 per game that they officiate. Not a bad gig if you can work your way up the system, but the competition is huge, every week there's around 75 000 refs officiating games up and down the country.

[Geo_1875]

And after that you’ll be able to referee a game of 10 year old laddies/lassie and not the Premier League?

Unless your local lodge sponsor you for the fast track to the top.

[SmashinGlass]

My 11 year old is thinking about starting next year. The DFB make it quite attractive for kids to go through the training and officiate games. There's a small amount of pocket money for every game they ref and they get free access to Bundesliga matches once they've enrolled in the scheme and football clubs are encouraged to put suitable candidates forward for training.

A Referee can earn €200 per game in the lower amateur German leagues and a Bundesliga ref earns €59 000 per annum basic pay and €5000 per game that they officiate. Not a bad gig if you can work your way up the system, but the competition is huge, every week there's around 75 000 refs officiating games up and down the country.

That's very forward thinking. My lad wants to do it and had enquired last year (when he was 14) and was informed that the SFA minimum age is 16. He wasn't happy but he will get to do the qualification next year whilst doing higher PE as his school have an agreement with the SFA/SQA I am led to believe.

For me, 16 is way too late. We should be encouraging 12 yo upwards to be taking charge of lower age games at 7s (as you seem to have access to in Germany) and encouraging them to both play and officiate. This has the potential to help kids in playing the game and understand the rules as well and improve their play based on that.

Food for thought at least

[Peevemor]

I have a cousin who, when in his early twenties, was tipped for the top as a referee by people in the FA. He had to give up due to an injury sustained playing football, but he loved it and would recommend it to anyone.

Many of his referee colleagues were guys like himself who played to a very good level when they were younger and have a real passion/love for the game.

[Cataplana]

I once said I had half a mind to be a referee. My mate said, don't worry that's all you'll need.

[Hibrandenburg]

That's very forward thinking. My lad wants to do it and had enquired last year (when he was 14) and was informed that the SFA minimum age is 16. He wasn't happy but he will get to do the qualification next year whilst doing higher PE as his school have an agreement with the SFA/SQA I am led to believe.

For me, 16 is way too late. We should be encouraging 12 yo upwards to be taking charge of lower age games at 7s (as you seem to have access to in Germany) and encouraging them to both play and officiate. This has the potential to help kids in playing the game and understand the rules as well and improve their play based on that.

Food for thought at least

:agree: 16 is too late. If you want people to excel at what they do, then they need to get involved early. Of course there are exceptions to that where people have a natural talent for something but generally to make something second nature you have to start young.

[Sir David Gray]

My 11 year old is thinking about starting next year. The DFB make it quite attractive for kids to go through the training and officiate games. There's a small amount of pocket money for every game they ref and they get free access to Bundesliga matches once they've enrolled in the scheme and football clubs are encouraged to put suitable candidates forward for training.

A Referee can earn €200 per game in the lower amateur German leagues and a Bundesliga ref earns €59 000 per annum basic pay and €5000 per game that they officiate. Not a bad gig if you can work your way up the system, but the competition is huge, every week there's around 75 000 refs officiating games up and down the country.

Are there the same allegations in Germany about referees being favourable towards the big teams (Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund etc) like there is here regarding Rangers and Celtic?

[Smartie]

My mate started doing it, did 2 games at iirc U16 level.

The abuse he got was disgraceful, both verbals and strong threats of violence from both players and parents. Some of the players are big lads by that age and he wasn’t much older than them.

He jacked it in and has coached “soccer” in Scottsdale for almost 20 years. The culture over there is night and day to here. They actually love Scottish coaches but he has very little positive to say about the way football is done in this country, and his refereeing story is just a small part of it.

[Hibrandenburg]

Are there the same allegations in Germany about referees being favourable towards the big teams (Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund etc) like there is here regarding Rangers and Celtic?

Refs over here are held in higher esteem than in Scotland. There are some conspiracy theorists who claim that the big clubs are treated differently, but with VAR it's difficult to uphold such theories. You do see a lot of refs on TV working as pundits who discuss the performance of refs and it's also not uncommon to see refs giving post match interviews. I'm not sure Scotland is quite ready for that last one yet.

[Hibrandenburg]

My mate started doing it, did 2 games at iirc U16 level.

The abuse he got was disgraceful, both verbals and strong threats of violence from both players and parents. Some of the players are big lads by that age and he wasn’t much older than them.

That's something you also see over here, but most parents will step in and tell these kind of tubes to have a word with themselves.

[Sir David Gray]

Refs over here are held in higher esteem than in Scotland. There are some conspiracy theorists who claim that the big clubs are treated differently, but with VAR it's difficult to uphold such theories. You do see a lot of refs on TV working as pundits who discuss the performance of refs and it's also not uncommon to see refs giving post match interviews. I'm not sure Scotland is quite ready for that last one yet.

Interesting. I'm sure if VAR was introduced here it would possibly make things worse!

How is the German FA viewed over there? Do they get accusations of favouring the big teams?

[Jones28]

My mate started doing it, did 2 games at iirc U16 level.

The abuse he got was disgraceful, both verbals and strong threats of violence from both players and parents. Some of the players are big lads by that age and he wasn’t much older than them.

He jacked it in and has coached “soccer” in Scottsdale for almost 20 years. The culture over there is night and day to here. They actually love Scottish coaches but he has very little positive to say about the way football is done in this country, and his refereeing story is just a small part of it.

I thought about it, but I was really put off by the story about a ref in Manchester who was pursued to his car by the opposition.

The culture towards referees in the country is appalling at all levels, but we give them nothing and do them absolutely no favours. We can’t afford to put them as full times refs on the kind of salary they should get so we get referees who might be good people, ambitious and enthusiastic but ultimately aren’t fully invested because they have their jobs. Clubs can’t afford the tec for VAR and goal line technology so the little help that is available to take advantage of can’t be utilised.

I’m not saying that I don’t think some referees shouldn’t be where they are - remember Alan Freeland? - but like any profession you’ve got to pay good money to get the best. You might great referees at grassroots level who have a decent career path in front of them and enjoy doing what they do, there’s no incentive for them to move up the ladder, so the ones that push to move up get further despite being less able.

[stantonhibby]

My mate started doing it, did 2 games at iirc U16 level.

The abuse he got was disgraceful, both verbals and strong threats of violence from both players and parents. Some of the players are big lads by that age and he wasn’t much older than them.

He jacked it in and has coached “soccer” in Scottsdale for almost 20 years. The culture over there is night and day to here. They actually love Scottish coaches but he has very little positive to say about the way football is done in this country, and his refereeing story is just a small part of it.


A friend of mine visits his pal in Arizona quite often....he coaches soccer. Think it's the same bloke.

[WhileTheChief..]

I wonder if there is a thread on a fan’s forum anywhere in the world where they say “our refs are sound”?

I’d bet they all say the same thing about the standard of their own as you’re saying here!

[bigwheel]

That was an interesting interview with Madden - comes across a decent bloke ....

[Hibrandenburg]

Interesting. I'm sure if VAR was introduced here it would possibly make things worse!

How is the German FA viewed over there? Do they get accusations of favouring the big teams?

There's a phrase often used over here "Bayern Dusel" which basically translates to "Bayern Luck". It kind of insinuates that Bayern Munich have more than their fair share of "questionable luck" and that there's an element of favourable bias towards them. This wikipedia article does a decent job of explaining it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayern-luck