The Cumberland FA is looking for non- or ex-referees interested in learning how to become a qualified mentor.
The county is planning new referee courses for the spring and summer, and cannot continue using the active referee workforce to provide the vital mentor support that newly qualified, and often very young referees (who can be aged 14-plus) require immediately after qualifying.
Cumberland FA referee development officer Scott Taylor said: “We are looking to expand our qualified referee mentor workforce by putting on a training evening next month for non-referees or ex-referees.
“The aim is to hopefully attract some coaches, parents or ex-referees to help us provide mentor cover and support to newly qualified referees.
“Many of our referee course candidates are aged between 14-16 and so it can be a bit daunting for someone so young to officiate a game of football for the first time.
“We are looking for supportive adults from within grassroots football to help us cover games over the coming weeks, months, and seasons.
“If we know a particular team coach is also a referee mentor we will look to appoint a few newly qualified referees to their games so that we and the referee know someone at the game is there in a supportive capacity and can provide positive constructive feedback.
“This also reassures worried parents of referees as unfortunately we see a lot of young referees leave the grassroots game each season as they often feel unsupported as we cannot cover every game with a referee mentor, especially as most of our current workforce are active referees themselves and needed to cover games.”
