Berkshire County Sports FC have been rewarded for their good on-field behaviour, with both their first team and reserve team topping the Reading Referees Association (RA) Fair Play League.
In response to The FA’s Respect programme, this Fair Play League is the Reading RA’s own way of enhancing the relationship between players and referees. The main awards will be presented at the end of the season, but the RA also wanted to reward the club on top spot on 31 December 2008.
The RA bought five official Premier League match balls which would be awarded to the top Fair Play team in each of the League’s five divisions and the winners are:
- Senior Division: Berks County Sports
- Premier Division: Ashridge Park
- Division 1: Berks County Sports Reserves
- Division 2: Sandhurst Devels Reserves
- Division 3: Taplow United A
Dan Purvis, manager of the County Sports first team insists the whole club has always been dedicated to fair play: "As a club we have introduced our own disciplinary procedures to encourage everyone to play in a sporting manner, while remaining competitive.
"We think this is a great initiative both by the League and the referees and are really pleased to receive these awards."
The Chairman of the Reading RA and local grassroots referee, Stephen Green, explained the reasons behind the initiative: "We just felt that we wanted to show clubs we are part of the same game that they play.
"We referee for enjoyment, believe it or not, and we appreciate the vast majority of players who just want to go out and enjoy their football. We all care greatly about local football and wanted to demonstrate our commitment to improving things for everyone.
"Special mention must go to Berks County Sports," he continued, "as both their teams came top of their respective divisions, closely followed by Sandhurst Devels, who were runners-up in the Senior Division and top of Division 2 with their reserve team.
"What was really pleasing was that overall the marks were very high."
