Stuart Attwell passed his experience on to local referees.
On Thursday 26 November the Sussex FA held its FAMOA event at Hove Centre, with over 170 referees of all levels in attendance. There was a lively start to the evening and after a warm welcome from the host and local sports presenter, Tony Marks of Juice 107.2, a DVD-style quiz followed, and attendees were asked to identify Premier League goalscorers and the teams involved from the last ten years, 'what happened next?' and 'name the referee'.
The presentation of the John Woodland Award which was eagerly anticipated by all Referee Academy members followed the quiz. This prestigious award, which is open to members of the Sussex FA Referees’ Academy, is presented in memory of John Woodland, a stalwart of refereeing in Sussex. An annual award that is voted for by the Academy Members and Coaches, it is given to the person whose contribution, development and training while at the Academy has been of the highest standard. Once again Wendy Woodland, John’s wife, along with her sons, Ian and Kieron, were proud to present the award. Unfortunately, this year’s recipient, Tim Robinson, was unable to attend the evening.
The fun theme continued in the second half of the evening with clips from Lee Evans, reflecting on situations that happen within a football match, especially the official’s role, and Omid Djalili playing the role of the referee while also playing in the match.
Guest speaker for the evening, Stuart Attwell, FIFA referee and the youngest-ever Premier League referee, took centre stage and gave an excellent and very informative presentation on ‘Managing Difficult Players’, something every referee will encounter. Stuart spoke from experience and gave several pointers to aid all referees if they came across similar situations. From the feedback sheets, it seems that everybody in the room took something from Stuart’s presentation.
After the presentation, Tony Marks posed questions to Stuart that had been supplied by the audience. He was very open and humorous, and didn’t mind discussing specific decisions he has made in the past.
Paul Saunders, the Sussex FA Referee Development Officer, brought the evening to a close and thanked those who had assisted him in what turned out to be a very successful and enjoyable evening.
