Kent County League Referee Awards 2009-2010

 

The 2009-10 Referee of the Year has been won by Martyn Staveley and 17 year old Josh Rudd has won both the Most Promising Referee of the Year and the Assistant Referee of the Year trophies. The awards were presented at the League's Annual Presentation Dinner & Cabaret Evening held on 29th May. The trophies were presented by Mr. Barry Bright, Football Association Vice-Chairman and Chairman & Managing Director of the Kent County Football Association.

Alec Broad has been honoured with the Kent County Football League 20 year Long Service Award, the presentation was made by League Chairman, Cyril Windiate, on the 17th April prior to the Premier Division game at Fleet Leisure. Alec is only the 7th County League Referee to receive this award, he is one of the unsung heroes of the game as he travels to every match by public transport!   Alec is shown above with match referee John Whiskin (right) and fellow assistant referee Steve Kendall.

COUNTY LEAGUE TO WORLD STAGE!   The Kent County Football League would like to congratulate former Kent County League referee Steve Child on his appointment to the FIFA list of Assistant Referees for 2010.

PREMIER DIVISION & INTER-REGIONAL CUP

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The FA Respect Programme

The Kent County Football League has signed up to the FA's Respect Programme which has been introduced by The FA from season 2008/2009 to help raise standards and address abusive behaviour in the game. The Respect Programme is a key aspect of the FA's Vision for the next 4 years and The FA hopes that, as well as improving behaviour in the game at all levels, it helps with the recruitment and retention of referees.

As part of the Respect Programme, it has been decided to introduce both the initiative that involves the referee working with the team captain on the day manage the players and the game effectively and the pre-match fair play handshake initiative.

1.The referee will work with the team captain in order to manage the players and the game effectively. Note the IFAB Guidelines for Referees, Assistant Referees and Fourth Officials which state that the captain has no special status or privileges under the Laws of the Game but he has a degree of responsibility for the behaviour of his tea m.

2.   The referee must control the game by applying the Laws of the Game, and deal firmly with any open show of dissent by players (e.g. not move away from the incident, but stay and deal with it).

3. The referee should use a stepped approach where appropriate to managing players e.g. 1) free kick, 2) free kick with quiet word, 3) free kick with public admonishment (this is the time referees should consider using the captain to more visibly get the message across) , 4) yellow card.

4. The stepped approach does not negate the fact that the referee has the authority within the Laws of the Game to issue disciplinary sanctions without recourse to the captain.

5. Whilst recognising that players may on occasions make an appeal for a decision (e.g. a throw in, corner or goal kick), It is important that the referee distinguishes these from an act of dissent which should be punished with a caution.

6. Even if the captain is some way away from an incident when the referee feels he needs him involved in a discussion with a player, the referee will call the captain over rather than using any other senior player. This will ensure that the captain remains the point of contact for the referee.

7. These guidelines should be seen as an additional preventative/supportive tool in order for referees to manage the game effectively. The key to the above is using the captains in a more visible way, where appropriate.

Fair Play Handshake Protocol

The following protocol should be applied where possible:

1. The starting eleven from both teams together with the three match officials (excluding fourth official) should take part in the handshake.

2.  Each team should line up on the same side of the half-way line that they exit the tunnel, with the match officials in the middle.

3. The Home team, led by their captain, then walks to shake hands with the match officials, and then the away team's players (see 1 below). Once each Home team player has finished shaking hands with the last away team player they disperse to their favoured end to kick-in.

4.  Once the last home team player has completed the handshake, the Away team then follows their Captain passing in front of the match officials to shake hands (see 2 below) before dispersing to the opposite end of the pitch from the home team.

5. Once the handshakes have been completed the match officials then proceed to the centre cir­cle for the coin toss.

Whilst we understand that it may be difficult to implement this protocol in every case, we would ask that referees do what they reasonably can to ensure its implementation.

HANDSHAKE FORMATION

AWAY TEAM                                     HOME TEAM

*********                   ***                  *********

C        ð      ð      ð B              C

çççççççççççççç A

H = HOME TEAM   

A = AWAY TEAM

C= CAPTAINS

Referees will need to play a leading role in the implementation of the Programme at all levels of the game to ensure that it is a success and the authority and respect for match officials is reinforced.