Sport / We want you – students set to be targeted in referees recruitment drive
STUDENTS will be encouraged to become referees in a bid to increase the number of match officials in the isles.
A shortages of football refs has led to a change in the league structure for the upcoming senior season, with the reserve league splitting in two.
That is mainly to ease the pressure on Shetland’s 18 referees, who take charge of more than 300 matches from March to September every year.
With two new younger referees signing up this year, Shetland Football Association (SFA) is set to turn its attention to trying to attract high school or university students.
It is a move that has the full backing of Aberdeen and District Referee’s Association manager Craig Mackay, who was in the isles this weekend to put the referees through their paces ahead of the coming season.
Pointing to the £50 match fee refs earned in Shetland, Mackay said few employers would pay a better hourly rate than that.
“If you do two games you earn £100,” Mackay said.
“How many shifts is that in Tesco?
“We’re giving them the training for free as well. That’s an area we’re trying to target.”
Mackay admitted that it “seems really difficult” to entice youngsters aged around 16 to pick up the whistle when they were likely to want to play football instead.
But he said that was also an age where some players fell out of the game, and may want to get back into it.
“For players at 16 it can be a hard sell, because they want to play,” he said.
“But if they are falling out of it, maybe they want to put something back into it rather than them walking away from the game.”
SFA president Jakob Eunson, who was attending a referee’s demonstration in Lerwick on Saturday morning, said they would be looking to link in with Active Schools to show students the advantages of becoming a referee part-time.
“They’re going to earn money for any refereeing that they do,” Eunson said.
“We know that we don’t have a lot of referees, so there’s jobs there for students that are looking for them.”
Another incentive, Mackay and Eunson both said, is that the refereeing course can be done online and in anyone’s own time.
It could take as little as two days to complete, Mackay said.
Mackay’s district includes Shetland and Orkney, but he was making just his first visit to Shetland in six years.
He led refs through a theory session on Friday night to go through rule changes for the new season, including amendments to the always controversial handball rule, before a practical session at the Clickimin athletics track pitch on Saturday morning.
Mackay said there was “a lot of experience up here” in refereeing, but the desire always was to encourage more folk to do it.
“You’re asking guys to cover games pretty much all the time, and here it’s the travelling as well you have.
“Just having more guys, it helps spread the load.”
One thing putting people off becoming referees, Mackay said, was the “behaviour on the touchline”.
“It’s becoming a real cause for concern,” he said.
“If that referee doesn’t come back, the only people that suffer are the people on the pitch.”
Shetland is not as bad as that, surely?
Mackay agreed the situation is “not quite as bad” as the mainland – but abuse of referees is “creeping in” up here.
“It’s more from the sidelines, the players aren’t as bad,” he said.
“But the SFA [Scottish Football Association] are looking at things at the moment that they could do. There’s things in discussion about that.”
Anyone who wants to sign up to become a referee can do so by following this link.
People can also contact Shetland Football Association on its Facebook page for more information about refereeing.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
