Becoming A Referee

What does a referee do?

A referee's aim, under the rules of the game, is to control the game and apply the laws accordingly. This is his sole purpose: to control the game to the laws of the game.

Is being a referee a full time job?

Refereeing is a full time job at the very top for the select group of referees on the FA Premier League. They are paid a salary. They get a retainer. Once they've been on one year, they're being offered a contract for about three years. That entails having a retainer - I think it's around £40,000 to £45,000. On top of that, they will get match fees and expenses. They'll do games in the Championship and the Football League, as well as cup games. These referees can probably earn £75,000 to £100,000 a year now.

How do you become a referee?

Throughout the country and on various kinds of football associations, and they have regional officers and each referees association in the area. There can be, for example, around here they are numerous. There is Redditch, there is Solihull, of which I am president, there is also Kings Norton, Sutton Coldfield, West Bromwich. There are a number of referees that come under the county of five and they act just like agents of the FA; they are like branches of the FA and they would have each referees association would have referee instructors. They run a course of about eight weeks and it involves a referee reservation fee, as well as actually taken a written exam and a verbal exam. So you enrol. They usually advertise on the local radio or papers. People enrol to take that course and once they pass that course they are then, I think, a Level 10 now. In my days, it started out as Level 1 and 2 and 3. Class 1, 2 and 3, but now it has all be fined tuned and starts at Level 10 goes right up to Level 1.

Do you need a specific qualification?

You don't need a specific qualification to become a referee. You do get a certificate, but it's not a vocational qualification, shall we say; it's to prove that you have passed. Each year, if you continue refereeing, you have to re-register with your local county or association, because unless you're registered with them, you're not classed as a registered referee, and the leagues won't take you on.

At what age can you become a referee?

You can take the refereeing exam when you're 14. There are limitations obviously as to what games you can referee. Normally, they don't like you refereeing anything that would be two years below your age, up to about 18. Once you pass the exam you are then monitored and so forth, and you won't referee, let's say, games of 17 or 18 year olds at 14.

What roles can you combine with being a referee?

Obviously, you can go on to be a referees' instructor if you want, but when you first start to referee, it's enough in itself to referee. When I used to be a referees' instructor, I used to say to people, "What do you think is the hardest job you're going to have to do when you go out on the field?" and none of them would get the answer. The hardest job is having to blow the whistle to summon the two captains up, because it's an unnatural act. You don't walk around blowing a whistle every day. You've never blown a whistle before. You're going to stand there, blow the whistle, bring attention to yourself, and then you're probably thinking, "What do I do next?" So when you're learning the job, which is probably the first five, six or seven years, until you get confidence, you probably don't want to do anything else, other than referee as a hobby.

Do you have to have an interest in football to become a referee?

I personally think you have to be interested in football to be a referee. My own view is that, if you don't understand the game and have an interest in the game, it makes refereeing more difficult. I often have said in the past to people, that I normally can tell people who've loved the game, who kept supporting a team, are really interested in football, against a referee who isn't. It's knowing the things that go on. Obviously as you get more experience, you pick them up, but I still think that even at the top level, you need to understand the game, you need to know the game and have a feel for the game. I think it's not vital to have an interest, but I think it's important. It's a great help to becoming a referee.

Do you have to have been a footballer to be a referee?

There are no requirements at all as to what you've been beforehand. You can just go and take a referee's exam, pass it, and off you go. Obviously, as you step up, then come fitness requirements, as you get into what they call the pyramid structure, which is a structure you have to get on if you want to get a career in refereeing. You have to take fitness tests of various degrees at the start of each season, and pass those before leagues will accept you into their league.

What advice would you give to an aspiring referee?

I'd say that if you feel you've got some taste of refereeing, you've got a feel for it, then it's a great opportunity. A lot of counties - or the FAs, who are all over counties - will fast track referees. They'll have what they call a fast track academy; there will be a senior instructor that will take referees under his wing and coach them. If it looks like they've got a lot of good potential, they will be fast tracked through leagues. By the time you're 30, you could be refereeing on the premier league these days.

Do you have to have been an assistant referee or linesman?

You don't have to have been an assistant to be a referee. An assistant means when you're qualified to referee junior football. By that, nobody means Sunday morning or Saturday afternoon parks football. As you progress, you tend to become an assistant on the line, the level above which you referee. If you're on the structure for promotion, you always run the line on a league below the level you referee on. If you just want to be a Sunday morning referee, you can just referee every Sunday morning, and get a few bucks for it as well.

Should ex-pros be fast tracked into top flight refereeing?

I'm not sure these days about fast-tracking ex-pros as referees; they get well paid as it is. If someone of the same age as them can get fast tracked, fine, but I don't think they should have preferential treatment over someone who's got similar ability merely because they were a professional footballer. You talk to most professional footballers and they wouldn't be interested. If you take the Premier League players for example, there's no way they'd be interested refereeing, because with the money they're earning, they just don't need it. In the past, a lot of them might've said, "It's something that we can do if we get fast tracked when we finish." But I can't see any Premier League footballer or top Championship footballer wanting to take up refereeing now - they've got no need for it.