Journalists take on Premier League official at referee taster day.
The FA launched season three of its Get into Refereeing campaign in association with Carlsberg this week with Premier League referee Peter Walton helping to put a select group of media through their paces at a refereeing taster day.
Journalists from Sky Sports News, The Guardian, Mail on Sunday, Zoo Magazine and BBC Look East headed to Northamptonshire to learn more about the theory and practical elements that go into becoming a successful referee.
The morning session kicked off with an introduction to refereeing from Senior National Game Referee Manager Ian Blanchard. Walton then took charge of a skills workshop where he led the media through a range of important refereeing expertise, including whistle techniques, caution and dismissal procedures, the offside rule and the skill set needed to be an assistant referee.
The session was also supplemented by an interactive video quiz in which participants were taken through the decision making process that referees go through when viewing a challenge or incident in a game situation.
Fully prepared, the media were then ready for the ultimate challenge – officiating the pre-season friendly between Bugbrook U12s and Daventry U12s. Shadowed by Walton, Blanchard and members of the Northamptonshire FA, each journalist took it in turns to put the theory they had learnt in the morning sessions into practice, acting as the game’s official match referee and assistant referees.
“Today has been great fun and it certainly makes a nice change to see the media swap their pens for flags and whistles. The Football Association is committed to meet its goal of recruiting 8,000 new referees by 2012 and days like today go along way to ensuring that these targets are met as more and more people are made aware of the Get into Refereeing campaign,” said Walton.
For further information on the Get into Refereeing campaign, click here.
