When and why did you take up refereeing?

I started refereeing in January 2000 in Swansea under the FAW. My father was a Referee and had always encouraged me to do it and once I fell out of the University team through injury, it seemed like a good opportunity to stay involved with the game.

What are your aims as a referee?

To continue to improve and enjoy my refereeing. I referee at a lower level than most of my RDO colleagues, as a Level 5, but I think as long as you enjoy what you do that is the most important thing.

What would you say are the top three attributes required to be a good referee?

Man-management, empathy and patience.

I believe we should try to co-operate with players and manage the game as a whole, understanding and working with the players. Man-management is vital for today’s referees and communication is central to that.

What attracted you to the post of Referee Development Officer?

As a Level 5 referee in the Isle of Man, I could not progress further as there is no local Supply League. As a result I began to do more off-field activities such as assessing, mentoring and instructing. It was taking up so much of my spare time I decided that it would be nice to be paid for doing it!

What has been your biggest success to date as RDO?

Being a RDO also carries some social responsibilities and it is important to try to understand your referees and what is affecting them. The biggest successes are the individual success stories where you help develop not just the referee but the person themselves. Refereeing can teach some great life skills and is a powerful tool that can change peoples’ lives.

What currently is the biggest challenge in terms of refereeing that you face in your County?

I think addressing the shortage of referees progressing into adult football. There are a number of ways in which we are tackling this and the Respect programme will hopefully improve retention.

We also operate a School of Excellence and have numerous other initiatives to encourage, develop and form a community amongst our youth referees and I believe this has already started to pay dividends but will do more so in the coming seasons.

What are you doing in Bedfordshire to recruit more referees?

Recruitment isn’t a major issue for us as we find most courses are fully booked. We have adopted some different approaches for courses from holding them at the County FA to schools and football clubs. Making it more attractive to the 20 – 40-year-old age group is probably a more specific task that we need to address and one that refereeing as a whole is very aware of.

How can we ensure we retain more referees?

Hopefully the Respect programme will be central to this and make football more enjoyable not only for the referees but for the players and spectators too.

I think it is really very simple though – you have to make refereeing enjoyable. We try to do this by smoothing the process from the course to the field and then offering support through the early stages of their refereeing career. I am currently in the process of appointing ‘School Leaders’ – referees in schools/colleges who have some experience of refereeing and can act as a support point for new referees within their schools or colleges.

On top of that we try to offer some added value by offering opportunities such as trips to tournaments in the UK and abroad and we have recently arranged a paintballing day.

All of this helps to add to the value of being a referee and helps to form friendships and a sense of community which make it more likely that when a problem occurs on the field, a referee will have the support necessary to come through it. I believe the community spirit is very important and is something that has perhaps slowly disappeared over the last 20 years or so.

Who do you admire most in the refereeing world?

What a great question! I’m tempted to say Ian Blanchard!

Howard Webb is the easy answer and he is a great role model and superb referee as well as a really nice bloke. One referee I always enjoy watching is Phil Dowd – he seems to really enjoy his games and has a great relationship with the players.

What has been the best game you have officiated?

As a referee, probably refereeing in a friendly at Wembley earlier this year in which I awarded a penalty. As Assistant Referee either at White Hart Lane earlier this year in a Reserve game or in the Final of a pre-season tournament between Oldham and Carlisle assisting Tony Leake.

Where do you see yourself in five years time?

Working in refereeing is great and if I am still doing in five years time that would be fantastic. As I will only be 33 by then, hopefully my refereeing might have progressed on a level or two but whatever I am doing and wherever I am based, as long as I am enjoying it that’s the most important thing.