August 2018
By RH
For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed playing sport, football, cricket, rugby, swimming, squash, running (4 London Marathons) even netball and basketball to name a few. In my late 30's I found I could no longer, as a Defender, catch the speedy Winger so it was time to retire my playing boots, I still wanted to be involved in the sport so started coaching and qualified as an FA Coach in 2005. In February 2014 I decided to take the Referee’s course, I had no intention of Refereeing, I just wanted to add a little more knowledge from the "Dark side". Once qualified Mr Football himself, Geoff Stanborough, was on the phone encouraging me to join the Ashford Branch, his enthusiasm and drive is remarkable and I have a great deal of respect for him, without him I doubt the Ashford Association Branch would survive, and so there began my “Career” in Refereeing as well as coaching which I continued to do.
Refereeing can at times be extremely challenging though there is a lot camaraderie amongst Referees and we support each other. Ultimately, if there is a problem that is proving difficult or you just need some extra support or advice the Kent FA is there on your side – or so I thought.
For those of you who do not know there is a “protocol” for booking a Referee which both club and referee (should) respect. On 12th July I was contacted by Ashford United asking if I could Referee a friendly on Sunday 29th, checking my schedule was clear I agreed, on the 25th July (4 days before the match) Ashford United confirmed my appointment, so far so good. I was due in Essex on the Saturday for a work commitment but was expected to return to Kent later the same day, during the Saturday it became clear the work would overrun, I decided to stay in Essex that night and get an early start on the Sunday morning hoping to complete the work by 9am giving me enough time to make the game. By 9am Sunday I was nowhere near completing the work and it did cross my mind to send a text to Ashford saying I could no longer Referee leaving them almost no chance of finding a replacement Referee. Professionalism got the better of me, in four years of Refereeing I have never let a club down and I was not going to start now, I had given my commitment and I was soon in my car heading for my Kent home to collect my kit, I arrived home just before 11am pleased there had not been any traffic hold ups, I changed into my Refereeing kit, checked my kitbag to make sure my flags, note book etc was present then set off for the ground.
I arrived at the ground at 11.30am and noticed it was quite busy, I searched for but could not find the Home Team Manager, I eventually found an Ashford official who informed me that I had been “removed” from the game as there was a Referee’s training course taking place and the Instructing Referee’s overruled my appointment appointing a non-qualified (Trainee) Referee.
After one Dart Charge, 70 miles and 2 hours of driving I stood there in disbelief.
Clearly protocol, professional courtesy or just plain decently were shelved on this occasion.
After arriving home I texted the Manager saying I would be making a complaint with Nick Dunn, the Manager replied saying “you will not get any argument from me, there has been a breakdown in communication”. I was extremely annoyed, I had done everything right and had been determined I would not let the club down.
Nick Dunn is the Referee Development Officer (RDO) for The Kent FA, and directly responsible for the Referee courses, he is someone us Referee’s should be able to turn to for support. There then followed an exchange of e mails between us, I asked him to pay my match fee, he refused stating that every effort was made to contact me, in fact a call was made to my mobile just 50 minutes before the start of the game, the car I was driving does not have hands free so the phone was on silent and in the glove box, Nick suggested it was my fault for not answering the phone !, even if I had answered the phone I had already travelled 70 miles and was almost at the ground.
I asked Nick in an e mail if I in any way had done anything wrong?, he did not respond.
Of course, games do sometimes get cancelled at short notice perhaps due to adverse weather, everyone accepts this though it would seem that the Kent FA and Nick Dunn feel it is quite acceptable to inform a Referee just 20 minutes before the start of a confirmed and payable game they are no longer required.
I thought Nick would have been supportive though he was in general very dismissive even though he fully accepted in an e mail that I had a “wasted journey”.
I will certainly think carefully before I seek his advice or guidance in the future.
The Kent FA and Ashford United offered no formal apology and my match fee remains unpaid.
It must have been my fault then.
By RH
For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed playing sport, football, cricket, rugby, swimming, squash, running (4 London Marathons) even netball and basketball to name a few. In my late 30's I found I could no longer, as a Defender, catch the speedy Winger so it was time to retire my playing boots, I still wanted to be involved in the sport so started coaching and qualified as an FA Coach in 2005. In February 2014 I decided to take the Referee’s course, I had no intention of Refereeing, I just wanted to add a little more knowledge from the "Dark side". Once qualified Mr Football himself, Geoff Stanborough, was on the phone encouraging me to join the Ashford Branch, his enthusiasm and drive is remarkable and I have a great deal of respect for him, without him I doubt the Ashford Association Branch would survive, and so there began my “Career” in Refereeing as well as coaching which I continued to do.
Refereeing can at times be extremely challenging though there is a lot camaraderie amongst Referees and we support each other. Ultimately, if there is a problem that is proving difficult or you just need some extra support or advice the Kent FA is there on your side – or so I thought.
For those of you who do not know there is a “protocol” for booking a Referee which both club and referee (should) respect. On 12th July I was contacted by Ashford United asking if I could Referee a friendly on Sunday 29th, checking my schedule was clear I agreed, on the 25th July (4 days before the match) Ashford United confirmed my appointment, so far so good. I was due in Essex on the Saturday for a work commitment but was expected to return to Kent later the same day, during the Saturday it became clear the work would overrun, I decided to stay in Essex that night and get an early start on the Sunday morning hoping to complete the work by 9am giving me enough time to make the game. By 9am Sunday I was nowhere near completing the work and it did cross my mind to send a text to Ashford saying I could no longer Referee leaving them almost no chance of finding a replacement Referee. Professionalism got the better of me, in four years of Refereeing I have never let a club down and I was not going to start now, I had given my commitment and I was soon in my car heading for my Kent home to collect my kit, I arrived home just before 11am pleased there had not been any traffic hold ups, I changed into my Refereeing kit, checked my kitbag to make sure my flags, note book etc was present then set off for the ground.
I arrived at the ground at 11.30am and noticed it was quite busy, I searched for but could not find the Home Team Manager, I eventually found an Ashford official who informed me that I had been “removed” from the game as there was a Referee’s training course taking place and the Instructing Referee’s overruled my appointment appointing a non-qualified (Trainee) Referee.
After one Dart Charge, 70 miles and 2 hours of driving I stood there in disbelief.
Clearly protocol, professional courtesy or just plain decently were shelved on this occasion.
After arriving home I texted the Manager saying I would be making a complaint with Nick Dunn, the Manager replied saying “you will not get any argument from me, there has been a breakdown in communication”. I was extremely annoyed, I had done everything right and had been determined I would not let the club down.
Nick Dunn is the Referee Development Officer (RDO) for The Kent FA, and directly responsible for the Referee courses, he is someone us Referee’s should be able to turn to for support. There then followed an exchange of e mails between us, I asked him to pay my match fee, he refused stating that every effort was made to contact me, in fact a call was made to my mobile just 50 minutes before the start of the game, the car I was driving does not have hands free so the phone was on silent and in the glove box, Nick suggested it was my fault for not answering the phone !, even if I had answered the phone I had already travelled 70 miles and was almost at the ground.
I asked Nick in an e mail if I in any way had done anything wrong?, he did not respond.
Of course, games do sometimes get cancelled at short notice perhaps due to adverse weather, everyone accepts this though it would seem that the Kent FA and Nick Dunn feel it is quite acceptable to inform a Referee just 20 minutes before the start of a confirmed and payable game they are no longer required.
I thought Nick would have been supportive though he was in general very dismissive even though he fully accepted in an e mail that I had a “wasted journey”.
I will certainly think carefully before I seek his advice or guidance in the future.
The Kent FA and Ashford United offered no formal apology and my match fee remains unpaid.
It must have been my fault then.
bring respect to your game
racism and discrimination does not maintain a place in our starting 11.
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to the fullest extent such liability can be excluded by law. The material contained in this website is provided for general information purposes. All images and contents on this site are copyright and must not be copied or reproduced without permission. These website pages may contain technical inaccuracies and typographical errors. (c) Ashford (Kent) & Weald Referees' Association 2013 - 2019. Site created and maintained by R Howlett –[email protected]