York Referees’ Association Meeting Minutes – 5th November 2026
Attendees: Alan Kaye, Conor Ledgeway, John Ledgeway, Barry Casterton, Charlotte Jacques-Smith, George Smith, George Roberts, Sophie Wood, Peter Berry, Myles Smith, Ian Smellie, Jacob Wallis, Debbie Wallis, Robert Rich, Dave King, Andy McAvoy, William Bruce (+1), Fin Blakemore (+1), Sarah Blakemore, Graham Bradbury, Ollie Dunning (+2), Jack Baron
Apologies: Matt Mesias, Oscar Cooper, Ian Hotchkins, Mark Benton
1. Welcome, Introductions & Apologies
– The meeting commenced at 19:36 at the York Hospital Club with 25 attendees present.
– Alan Kaye (AK) welcomed all attendees.
2. RA Business
– AK apologised for this absence at the previous meet and thanked Sophie Wood for standing in to chair the meeting. He welcomed members to put themselves forward to deliver future sessions during the meeting and confirmed that Conor Ledgeway would be running the session on ‘The 1% Club’ this evening.
– AK provided a reminder of the 2 minutes silence over the weekend for the Remembrance weekend. Urging Referees who have a game to reminder clubs and have this planned prior to kick off.
– AK invited Peter Berry to share committee updates regarding the social media channel for the Association, outlining our current platforms – Website, Instagram and Facebook. PB welcomed any feedback on how we can improve our communications.
– Barry Casterton provide a safeguarding update. A reminder for Referees to report any disciplinary incidents they face. BC also shared some positive feedback on Referees submitted by clubs.
3. Match Incident Sharing
– Leanne shared recent experience as a parent when watching her son in an adult women’s game and how he’s navigated a new experience/issue during the fixture.
– AK invited William to share his recent experience in a challenging fixture. William shared the steps he took to try and manage the game and how he could stay focused throughout. CL thanked William and clarified that from a discipline side, stating that it is hard to provide retrospective action if no formal discipline has been given in the game.
– AK shared an incident from Manchester City Women’s Champions League fixture where a player collided with the Referee and the ball went into the goal – members shared their opinions on this and discussed Law vs. Common sense/ what did the game expect.
4. Guest Speaker: Conor Ledgeway
– AK introduced this meeting guest speaker Conor Ledgeway (York RA secretary and North Riding Referee Development Officer).
– CL discussed what the top 1% looks like in several areas of life (e.g wealth and marathon time), confirmed that out of the 40,000 registered Match Officials that those sat within the top half of the merit table at L3 are the ‘1%’.
– CL shared the timescales from qualifying to reaching the top 1% and urged the room to consider what areas they could explore to gain the 1% increase in their own performances regardless of what level they operate at/what they ambitions are.
– Each table were given a ‘type’ of player (Vocal, hard tackler etc.) to discuss and feedback the best player management options/techniques we have the these players during a fixture.
– An interactive 1% style quiz followed where attendees moved around the room to make their decisions – The correct answer for the 1% question and winner of a £20 Ref Stop voucher was Oliver Dunning.
5. Any Other Business
– AK gave CL a vote of thanks.
– AK confirmed the Christmas meeting would take place on Tuesday 1st December rather than the 1st Thursday of the month – this will be the Christmas Quiz hosted by George Smith.
– Annual RA Dinner is the 7th May.
– Dave King (DK) asked if anyone doesn’t receive the newsletter to let him know.
– Raffle.
Meeting closed at 21:32
