There are two Supply League Assistant referee workshops being run in late July and early August and referees are invited to attend. The dates and locations are as follows:-

• Thursday 25th July at the West Riding  East Riding FA HQ Woodlesford Leeds (about 25 miles from York)  7pm to 9pm
• Monday 5th August at the East Riding FA HQ  – Roy West Centre, 220 Inglemire Lane, Hull, 7pm to 9pm

Starting from the forthcoming season Level 4 referees will be operating in the new Yorkshire & Humber Supply League Pool. At the request of the National FA, three Supply Leagues ie -the York League Premier Division, the West Yorkshire League Premier Division and the Humber League Premier Division are cooperating to form this Pool.  What it means is that 60 Level 4 referees from across Yorkshire have been allocated to the new Pool and, in theory, could be appointed to games in any of the three league Divisions mentioned above. The Referees appointments secretaries of the three leagues have in previous seasons helped each other out by occasionally “loaning” level 4 referees to each other when we have been short. This was expected by the FA and has now been made more official by the forming of this pooling arrangement. The Supply League Assessors who previously operated on the individual leagues will also be centrally appointed and the National FA will send the funding for assessors direct to the Pool.

We have a Pool Management committee consisting of Chris Spurr (West Yorkshire League) Steve Rhodes (WRCFA), Geoff Hanson (Humber League), Steve Wade (Humber League), Geoff Hartley, Andrew Blakey and Colin Atkinson.  Chris Spurr is the referee appointments officer, Geoff Hartley has taken on the Assessor coordination and Andrew is the treasurer.

Assistant referees will still be appointed to Supply league games in the Pool by the League referee appointments secretaries. Referees who are in the promotion schemes need to run lines as part of the promotion process and for younger and newly qualified referees running a line can be a very useful way to gain experience and benefit from meeting other match officials. However we cannot provide all our Assistant referee requirements from promotion candidates and new referees alone and we do rely on more experienced referees helping out with lining duties.

The cost to clubs is a major consideration in the appointments process and in reality referees who have acted as assistants for Colin in previous seasons will see very little change but may see one or two new faces amongst the referees.. Level 4 Referees who were previously with the York League but live near the borders of the other leagues may be appointed to games in one or both of the other leagues. There may be occasions when we may ask three officials from York to travel to a game in the Humber League or West Yorkshire League ( eg to Pocklington or Boroughbridge) and in return we may see three officials from Leeds on a York game.  It will certainly give opportunities for referees and Assistants to broaden their experiences and see new clubs and venues.

Could we urge you to take the opportunity of attending one of the workshops mentioned above. Please let Colin know which one you would like to attend so he can let the organisers know of numbers to expect.  He will also look at the opportunity to arrange joint travel.