September committee update: YMO volunteer, Protocol, Discipline Forms, Recruitment
As we are now into the first few weeks of the season, I thought I would update you on what the committee have been up to.
The committee would like to publicly register their thanks to Chris Blockley-Webb for his fantastic work over a number years with youth referees and establishing the YMO Scheme. Unfortunately, Chris has decided that time has come for him to step aside due to personal circumstances. This has left a huge gap and the committee you like to hear from you if you think you can take on this role, or even just a part of it for your club or locality. If you are interested please contact myself or Terry to discuss what you can offer.
Those of you that were at the training meeting last month will have been introduced to the protocol we have published to clubs. I have attached this for you all to read. Whilst there are things that are incumbent on us as referees to do however, I would expect you to be doing all these already. The main object is to set out the expectations of clubs and their interaction with referees, again many clubs are conforming with all the requirements already. A copy of the protocol is here
Alongside this we have produced “Youth Cards” that set out expectations of coaches and spectators at youth matches where there is a known problem. Referees are encouraged to give these to coaches pre-match so they are aware how they should behave. It is hope that then if a coach or spectator steps out of line the referee can refer him to the card which hopefully will be enough. However, be in no doubt that if a coach or spectator does step out of line HRR will back the referee but you will have to complete the paperwork.
Links to the new discipline forms are below, I have also included the guidance, hopefully you will not require them. These will be uploaded to the HRR Facebook site:
You will have seen from some emails from Gareth that we are struggling with referee numbers this season. This coupled with potentially more competitive games now the league structure has settled down, there has never been a better time to be available for matches. If you are a lapsed or an occasional referee please look when you can be available, there are games for you. Any questions you have please talk to a committee member.
Additionally, we all need to be on the look out for new recruits, at work or club referees that we can encourage to make them next step. Please look out for any talent, the committee are investigating some initiatives that will help.