The West Riding County FA accept that the standard of refereeing has dropped at Step 6 but they are working hard to improve the quality of officials in their area.
Harrogate Railway manager Mick O’Connell’s comments on the current standard of officiating have sparked a debate and the West Riding FA have responded.
The main reason for the decline is because of referee shortage at Step 6 and below – a situation created by the National FA policy decision to stop Premier League and EFL assistant referees officiating in Non League Football.
The introduction of VAR has also taken more referees out of the field on a Saturday.
It has meant the lower levels of Non League have lost the services of a vast number of officials, forcing the County FAs to promote officials earlier than they normally would.
“Step 6 clubs have been getting a lower level of referees so it is a bit like saying to an NCEL ‘you can only recruit players from a lower level’,” County FA senior football development officer Lee Ashforth told Non League Yorkshire.
“Because of that, the standard of the refereeing has obviously dropped because you are getting a lesser experienced referee.
“The only way that is going to improve over a period of time is by getting them doing games and getting the experience.
“I know that is difficult for managers (to accept).
“We have had seven or eight CPD events for referees so we’re doing everything we can to support them and get them at a level they need to be at.
“Unfortunately because of the lack of referees higher up the pyramid, we’re having to (promote early).
“They’re having to learn on the ground and as they’re working.
“I’m sure referees will equally say they’re learning as they go because they have moved up a level.
“We have to give them a chance.”
It has been all hands to the pump in Woodlesford and Mr Ashforth, who is also the joint manager of Campion, says the County FA have done a lot to address the situation.
“Us as the West Riding County FA have spotted (the problems) and realise there’s an issue and this year, up to date, we have put on 16 referee courses,” he said.
“So this year we have over 300 new referees.
“That’s a big number.
“As well, we have had two female only referee courses.
“Those 300 referees have to go out and referee five games (at grassroots level) before they get signed off as a qualified referee.
“But they’re not at the level of Step 6 straightaway, they have to work their way up to Step 6 so you’re not going to see that improvement (in numbers) for two-or-three years.”
Mr Ashforth also attributes a lot of the bad coverage of referees to social media and the growing advent of filming games at Step 6 and below.
“Naturally (newly-promoted referees) are going to make more mistakes but they’re learning as they go along like a player would do,” he said.
“If a player makes a mistake, there’s repercussions of that mistake. They’ve just made a mistake in the game.
“If a referee makes a mistake, they make a mistake.
“They’re getting more scrutinised because of social media and videos of games and people picking up on them.
“The majority of clubs have the VEO cameras too.
“You never see a club put on ‘we got given this penalty, great decision by the ref’.
“It is always the negatives that go on.
“There has to be some positive stuff out there like referees playing advantages leading to goals being scored.
“You think how many games there are across a weekend, you’re going to get mistakes and those mistakes get highlighted.
“The good practice never gets highlighted.
“The other issue is if we keep battering referees and saying they need to be better and are not good enough, the problem is going to be we can’t retain them as they’ll say they are not doing it anymore.
“We have to support them for them to get better.”
Mr Ashforth also addressed O’Connell’s comment about the fitness levels of match officials at Step 6.
“We can’t monitor whether the officials are fit enough (during the season,” he said.
“To go up the levels they do fitness tests at the start of every season and they have to pass.
“If referees do want to go up levels they have to be fit, it is as simple as that.
“I go back to it but because we’re using a lower standard of referee (at Step 6) then fitness constraints aren’t as high as they have to be higher up.
“Again, you go back to players.
“Players playing at Step 6 football are nowhere near as fit as your Premier League players.
“You get fitter the higher you go and it is the same with referees.
“I’m sure if you speak to most Non League managers, they’ll say there are players in their squad who need to be fitter.
“Yes referees need to be fitter but they know that themselves that they have to get their fitness right if they want to go up the levels.”