FA, refs etc

As a Director of a non league club team able to go to talks about behind the scenes stuff. This article is mostly about a presentation by FA staff on refs. I hope you find it interesting.

Marking of officials

After every game the officials are marked by both the home team and the away team. Marks generally vary between 60 and 80. According to the FA, an 80 mark a standard satisfactory performance. And I quote “this is based on the average employee in a job who performs to 80% of capability most days”.  Who else thinks this is odd? I work for myself, so if I did 80% of a job I would be sued and bankrupt in no time. A mate is responsible for putting chemicals on a plane, thankfully he hasn’t blown one up yet!

If a ref is marked below 60, a detailed report has to be made giving reasons. Sadly, a number of clubs mark 61 so ducking the issue. Honestly, these clubs don’t really help themselves do they?

In the 12/13 season, 7 refs have been marked less than 60 by Southern League clubs. My club is responsible for two of them. We decide to make a report when the four directors and the secretary all agree. That way it isn’t just one persons view.

Training refs

In 2005/06 the training budget was virtually non-existent. I cannot remember the amount for the current year, but its a decent amount and bears no resemblance to 05/06. The FA are proud of this as it shows their commitment to the officials.

In my view the standards have dropped since 05/06, so I say the money is being wasted. In 05/06 I criticised about two refs a year and about 6 linesmen. Today most linesman are poor. And I saw 6 men in the middle have a shocker by November this season.

Chucking money at something does not bring success. You must spend it wisely.

Assessors

On average an assessor is at every other game. The assessor always makes his visit known to the officials as soon as he arrives at the ground. This is done following legal advice! Apparently every assessment is in fact an employee appraisal. Therefore it cannot be done anonymously. So, how many people do you know are appraised pretty much every week? None? Me neither!

At the end of every year (runs to end of February) officials are then promoted, demoted etc to other levels, or left where they are. This takes effect at the start of the next season. So, they have a weekly appraisal and an annual appraisal. Heaven forbid anyone to suggest that the weekly assessor is only providing on the job guidance or training! We just cannot have anonymous reports done can we?

Number of cards issued

The head man says that if 10 cards are issued in a game, the ref has clearly had a bad game. He also maintained that if no cards are issued, the ref has also had a bad game. Think the chap really likes his statistics to come up with that sweeping statement. If you do not know, a yellow card is a £10 fine on the player and a straight red is £30. These fines are collected by the FA and then passed over to the local FA region. My FA regional currently sits on about £1.3m of cash.

Regional FA Authorities

The FA have a set of national rules. The Southern League and equivalents also have a set of national rules. In turn, clubs have a national set of rules. Sadly each local FA authority still has its own set of rules. By and large they different all over the UK leading to very odd clashes at times. The FA has no intention of changing this set up. However, the Southern League Chairman is actively encouraging members to bring all pressure to change the situation.

Don’t you just love political; infighting. Oh, and the FA’s reluctance to change a century old rule. Oh now, we cannot have change now can we?!

Southern League Cup

Everyone is well aware that fans are voting with their feet and do not want to watch these cup games. Pretty much every game generates a loss for both clubs. Despite this, the competition will continue. The odd rules they brought in for 2012/13 will however be rescinded as they did not work.

So no one has backbone to either do away with the competition or “suspend” it till the economic position improves. That is probably because the other regions also have their cups and no one want to be the first to admit clubs financial losses should be taken into account.

Fixture back-logs

Due to the awful weather this season, there are some clubs with dreadful fixture back-logs. As expected the season will not extend into May. apparently the waterlogged pitches are basically the clubs own fault. If they invested £400k (?) into 3G pitches there would not be a problem. In fact the problem is only £200k worth as the FA will give a 50% grant in most cases.

How many clubs do you know are sat on £200k of spare cash?

A lot of what I have said above is FA people quoting legal advice and statistics. This I think was done in a way to ensure there was no major questions from the floor. In other words, they put themselves into a position to deflect comments away. All you need know about statistics is what my Uncle Phil says “if half the population are male, and half female, everyone has one bollock and one tit.” Nuff said.

Finally, all the above are my own personal views.

Grass Roots Football Admin

With the bad weather upon us, there will be very little non-league football this weekend. So, what will your club be doing behind the scenes?

Well firstly, the players will be doing their keep fit stuff. But an awful lot of other stuff needs to be done as well. The unglamerous side is our dear friend “admin”. Yes, clubs have masses of paperwork to do. And guess what, as it’s done by volunteers, it usually isn’t done that well either. No, I’m not having a “pop” at anyone, just saying what I observe.

The admin people have a truly thankless task. Yet they get little help, and no praise. But lots of bollockings when things go awry.  If you have some spare time to donate, get hold of your local club and ask if you can help out. They are sure to “bite your hand off”. In many ways, it is better to help rather than give financial assistance.

What the average fan does not know is how wealthy the local governing FA bodies are. Let me use the Gloucestershire FA [GFA] as a classic example (only because they are on my doorstep).

Clubs get fined for incorrect or late paperwork. Players also get fined for every booking, sending off etc. All the fines go straight to the local FA authority. If you have never visited it, have a nose around the GFA headquarters. It is right next to the Almondsbury Town FC pitch. The GFA building is comparatively new, air conditioned, with lots of staff who all have their own networked computers. It’s a place you would be rightly proud to work in.

Now here’s the killer: It’s entirely funded by fines levied across local affiliated clubs . Yup wages included. The whole flippen lot. So that’s taking loads of money directly out of grass roots football clubs. It’s an awful lot of money.

Don’t get me wrong. There must a “fine” otherwise no paperwork would ever be submitted. But you have to admit that if players didn’t get booked as often, I’m particularly thing of dissent here, or clubs filed paperwork on time, then the money stays within the club. Surely that has to be good. Doesn’t it?? A simple direct way of your club having more disposable income. Sounds good to me.

But the fans do not know who the transgressors are. So how about public visibility and deduct points from the clubs concerned then?  Public embarrassment should ensure the clubs take their administration duties more seriously. Oh, silly me. The FA would then have to find funds elsewhere. Like out of all their TV money…….

Now we cannot have the FA leaving money in grass roots clubs now, can we…..