Fri 18 Apr - Result

[Ace1]

Farnham Town 1-1 Alton

 

Entertaining local derby; Alton took the lead through Kurt Greenaway and then they missed a second half penalty.  Farnham dominated for long periods and had numerous chances to equalise however; it didn't arrive until the 90th minute when Jack Dillon scored a 'shinner'.  There was still time for Farnham to have a goal disallowed (still don't know why!!).

 

(Krooner - Ref Rant)

 

I appreciate it was a Friday night and some of our better/younger officials were 'out on the town' celebrating the resurrection however; If these are the best three officials available then we wont be applying to move anymore fixtures!  

 

The REFEREE should be investigated for impersonating a REFEREE!  (He may have been a late replacement?)  Totally inept, out of his depth and far too many times he failed to apply the laws of the game!  (Alton will be more aggrieved than us).

 

The two assistants were the oldest I have seen.  They couldn't keep up with play which resulted in many 'guess' decisions and the comments from them were embarrassing, especially the dugout side! 

 

I am aware that there are officials who have not been appointed for 2-3 months which demonstrates that there isn't a shortage of them so why do we have to put up with (and pay) for sub standard officials?  We seem to get the same assistants week in week out who make the same mistakes, say the same comments and then take the money and run!  Do we not have any young, thrusting assistants coming through?  If the two last night continue much longer then we will have to have St John Ambulance on speed dial!!! 

 

This isn't a personal issue.  I speak to many club officials after each game and they all say the same thing.  They all give them the lowest mark possible so they don't have to write a report, mainly because they haven't got the time to write them and they know they will be ignored and placed into 'file 13'!

[Mewcenary]

Wasn't at the game and not aware of the officials involved, but to cover some of the generic points...

 

The league has a certain number of Level 4 referees assigned by the FA.  These are in the Handbook and I think at the beginning of the season there were around 45 of them.  Quite a number, boosted by the Suburban league losing its status for this season so some of the referees from there transferred over.

 

At any one time, some of those are just not going to be available.  For this weekend, holiday is a big one.  At this stage in the season, injuries due to the fixture pile-up and ground hardening start to come into play as well.

 

Secondly, the FA themselves get first dibs on those officials: They will be appointed to contrib fixtures as Assistant Referees.  Those games take priority.  So out of the available L4s this weekend, a number are out and about on the Isthmian and Southern leagues.

 

This can mean there are simply not enough Level 4s available, despite the seemingly large starting pool!  When this happens, Level 5s can be brought in to fill the gap. It should be noted that pretty much any time I've seen this happen, the referee is ex-level 4 (or higher!) so has the experience of the upper levels.

 

We do have this situation where there are only enough games for each level 4 to get 1 or 2 middles a month (on average), yet sometimes none are available at all due to the above factors.  

 

In terms of Assistants, there are definitely young ones who are on the up, vying for promotion.  However, assisting at this level is purely voluntary: Some referees don't like it and prefer just to be in the middle.  As part of the promotion criteria nowadays, there tends to be a minimum number of senior lines required (typically 5) though.

[Manors]

As ever, yet another negative post from Ace 1. As I wasn't at the match I can't say whether your comments are correct or not. But one fact where you are wrong, is that the match was played on Good Friday, which is not the resurrection.

So looking at your comments, what should be the age limit, for Assistant Referees on the CcL? Should it be at aged 40 yrs, 50 yrs or 60 years old? How would you replace these older officials Ace1? I guess you have a solution for this.

[Ace1]

Firstly Manors; thanks for taking a keen interest in my posts, glad that someone takes the time to read them!

 

Secondly; I have learnt that its best only to comment on situations that you witness with your own eyes!  This ensures that any opinion has some grounding and any comments can be supported.

 

Thirdly; I do  not have a solution, I just have an opinion (Isn't this forum  about opinions?)

 

I don't believe that there should be a set age limit; I do think that the 'fitness' test should be vigorously applied and if it is then it needs to be reviewed.  If some of our 'older' assistants pass this test then it is far too easy!!!

You will see from Mewcenary's comments that there are plenty of young, enthusiastic and motivated assistant referees in the system that are being held back due to the 'old boys' network that ensure that their 'friends' get appointments and the younger ones are left to become frustrated and then drift away from the game.

 

More than happy to discuss this with you if you fancy visiting Farnham for anyone of our five remaining home games.

[Smudge]

Ace,totally agree with you on the Fitness test,many Assistants are too slow,overweight,and past their sell by dates.Maybe Rocket Ron made a come back.Refereeing has its clicqes,and if you listen to Referees watching a game every Ref they watch they criticise,unless of course he is a MATE.Was Lewis Gordon not available? he seems to get a game every day of the week,personally speaking there are some very decent Refs in the CCL.Clubs are to blame though by not putting pen to paper after a poor performance by Officials.