NATIONAL LEAGUE ADOPTS NEW PLAN

The National League has announced significant changes – to be introduced in the 2004 season – designed to boost referee development as well as raise the structure of weekends to a level more in line with major club competitions abroad.

The plan includes the introduction of delegates – to be tried in Division One only at first, but with the aim of expansion to lower divisions in the future.

There will also be technical meetings at the start of all weekends, to which referees and a club representative (ideally, the coach) will be expected to attend. The intention is that this should help all concerned with both consistency of rule application and the understanding of objectives.

League chairman Steve Monico explains that the committee has devoted much time recently “to develop the way we manage referees to the mutual benefits of the game, players and the referees themselves.”

Steve stresses that the main benefits of the new initiatives are likely to accrue over the longer term. “Therefore, we ask for the patience and full support of all clubs,” he said. “Everyone, for example, needs to think about where the referees of the future are to be found. For various reasons – retirement, non-availability etc – 14 referees have been removed from the 2003 panel, with only one newcomer added. That is an extremely worrying situation for the future of the game that needs to be addressed.”

Already, new principles have been applied to the appointment of referees in the National League. These include:

• Six referees selected for each weekend, with actual appointments advised at the competition
• All referees offered a minimum of 10 games per annum to achieve a more even balance of appointments

Objectives:

• To contribute to the overall consistency of refereeing and application of rules
• To ensure that opportunities exist for referees to develop themselves with the help of an established system of mentoring from experienced individuals
• To create an environment conducive to developing new referees
• To provide a communication vehicle between clubs and referees
• To improve player and coach understanding of the application of rules

 A presentation on the changes will be made at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, on Saturday, 11 September, prior to the opening Division One weekend (noon).

Comments and suggestions on all the issues are welcome and should be sent to National League chairman Steve Monico steve.monico@nwpl.co.uk or Stephen Baker, chairman of the League’s new refereeing sub-committee steve.baker@nwpl.co.uk.