FMD20 you are right the players deserve better, but until we have the numbers in the referee ranks that will be impossible. In the Midlands area during just the last week there were over 125 games played. Many of those games were refereed for free. Refs were paid at the tournament games but pre-season games are freebies. There are just not enough refs to do 3 man crews in all the games in the Midlands. I wish there were it is very difficult to call offsides and view the action at the ball at the same time, and with the two man crew there are two corners of the field that you are forced to make calls from a very long distance away. In a perfect world it would be nice to be graded on our preformance and lower level refs be assigned lower level matches, but in the real world the refrees actually have other jobs and assignments go to who can actually get to the match at the assigned time.
I realize my limitations I am over 50 years old I cannot run with 18 year old boys any more, but until more people step up to the pitch you will have to make do with the fat ol blind guys who do this for the love of the game. There are very few out there doing this for the money.
So if you really care, next time there is a referee clinic in your area please go and get certified to referee. It will give you a completely new perspective on the game.
