It's a pity Alan Pardew is no longer manager of Reading FC as I had intended
addressing this week's column to him. I'm sure it's not the sort of advice that
many Reading fans would offer him, but I would like to correct a
mis-
apprehension he obviously has.
Earlier in the season he was unhappy with a referee's performance which included sending
off Nicky Shorey, for what the referee saw as denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity. He said that he would
like to see the assessor's report and he had written to the Referees' Association
for a copy. It seems he doesn't know what the Referees' Association does or
where assessors come from.
The Referees' Association is like a Referees' Union, in fact that was its original name, looking after its members' interests. Assessors
are employed by the FA or football competitions.
When I started refereeing , assessors were only used for referees at the
beginning of their careers who wanted to get promotion from class 3 to
2 and eventually class 1. The assessors were provided by the County FA. After that, a
referee progressed in higher leagues by club markings. Nowadays, a referee is
assessed at every stage of his career.
Once out of local football, the various leagues employ assessors who watch and report on their games. If they get to the
top, the Football League or the Premiership, referees are watched and
commented on as never before and apparently, it's going to get worse.
First they have an assessor at every match. From the start of this season there
has been one change. Previously the assessor met the referee for a chat before
the game and got together afterwards for a de-briefmg. This has now stopped so
the referee doesn't know who is watching him, only that someone certainly is.
The assessor has to fill in a report covering ten areas, but the marks are
concentrated in three sections:application of the Laws, correct
decision-making and control of the game.
On top of this the referee loses marks if he doesn't apply the mandatory sanctions. For instance, if a player kicks a ball away at a
free kick, he must be cautioned: if a player denies an obvious goal-scoring
opportunity, he must be sent off. Any failure to do this, and five points are
automatically deducted from his total marks. Incidentally the assessor gets a
video of the game and in the Premiership he can change his report after
watching it but not on the Football League.
As well as the assessor, each club manager is required to send in a written
report of the referee's performance with markings. Two separate league tables
are produced, one of the assessors' markings and one of the club
managers', and there is a third one combining the two.
There is another assessment: the referee's own. Each referee is also sent a video of the game so he can see any mistakes he
made and he has to send a self-
assessment to his coach. Every referee at top level has a coach whose job is to improve his performance. A coach has seven
referees under his wing so any individual can only expect to see his coach once
in seven games, unless he is getting bad reports when he might well
be seen more often. Each referee also has a mentor, someone he can talk to about his
matches.
One other assessment a referee faces is a quarterly fitness test which is something else spreading down the leagues.
If all that wasn't enough, I now read that the PFA and the Managers'
Association are going to send delegates to games to supply a more general view
on how the match was officiated. Perhaps that's a job Alan Pardew could do
between now and October 18th. Make a change from all that gardening.
Dick Sawdon Smith