Thought to be the first of its kind in the North-West region, our promising young match officials took the opportunity to replace their Lancashire counterparts at the Bolton Wanderers FC Academy at Bolton School, Bolton.

The lads were supported by mentors (experienced officials and instructors) from both Cumberland and Lancashire, each giving advice and encouragement during the ‘Remembrance Sunday’ fixture with Blackburn Rovers. There were three age groups on the day, U9s, U11s and U13s, and these were allocated as follows:-

 

  • Under 13s: Graham Kirkpatrick, Ant Backhouse, Phil Murphy
  • Under 11s: Matthew Lynch
  • Under 9s: Liam Segal

The three lads on the U13 match rotated the role of referee, each having a third of the match in the middle, in order to gain invaluable experience and benefit from the fine qualified advice being given from the sidelines. This game was also ‘videoed’ by the club and will be a great training tool.

 

All five officials had travelled down the day before with Cumberland FA mentors Scott Taylor and Kenny Stevenson, staying at a Travelodge on the edge of Preston, providing the group with an excellent opportunity to experience an overnight ‘stopover’, socialise over a meal, and prepare appropriately for the eagerly anticipated ‘big’ matchday build up.

 

After the morning’s business of officiating at Bolton Academy, the lads enjoyed a well earned lunch followed by a taste of Premiership football at the Reebok Stadium watching Bolton Wanderers take on Middlesbrough.

This was a great opportunity for the lads to watch a ‘live’ match as neutrals, enabling us to study the Select Group Referee Lee Probin and his two Assistant Referees, picking out training points and discussing issues and decisions relating to incidents seen first hand at the match.

 

Overall, this was a fantastic trip for the five chosen Academy referees and well worth organising.