October Members Meeting at York Hospital Social Club- 05 October 2023
Apologies: Garreth Rhodes, Graham Bradbury, Brandon Bishop, David Millburn, Colin Coote, Lennon Gillan
The meeting began at 19:40 with 38 members present for the guest speaker Tony Harrington, Premier League Referee from Hartlepool.
Chairman Alan introduced Tony before welcoming new faces in the room, giving special thanks to Andy Kay for inviting youth referees.
Conor Ledgeway started a discussion around his game last month- Scunthorpe United v Buxton in which the game was abandoned in the 96th minute due to a waterlogged pitch. Many views were expressed with the key learning that we must always be prepared and that player safety has to come first. Learning points were noted on ensuring everyone is aware of what is happening and why and being able to communicate this effectively.
Break
Minutes silence for Tom Hughes
Tony Harrington:
Tony began his presentation giving a background on his refereeing journey from 14 in Hartlepool through to the Premier League. This journey took him through the Hartlepool Sunday League, Northern League, Conference North/Premier, Football League, Championship and most recently Premier League.
Tony then talked through his lifestyle as a Premier League referee with all the training requirements and schedule. He spoke through his injury struggles and his expected role of VAR over the next couple of months. This led into some VAR clips for the remainder of the evening prompting plenty of discussion and learning opportunities. Some of the instances centered around penalty/non penalty decisions alongside sending off/cautionable offenses. Key learning also took place on the role of the VAR and understanding if the decision is a clear and obvious error.
Following the clips, Tony then took questions surrounding managing the game, different levels of the game and the Women’s game.
A vote of thanks was given by Myles Smith for our guest.
AOB:
Future meeting dates and guests announced for new members with the hope that they will return next month for Andy Himsworth. It was excellent to have such an attendance.
Raffle and No.s board
Meeting closed at 21:55
