New refs ready for kick-off

More than 250 first year football referees of all ages have recently become the inaugural recipients of Football Federation Victoria’s (FFV) trailblazing green referee shirts.

The green shirts are part of the new Referee Development Program, which is supported by the Victorian Government.

The shirts have been introduced as a way of making new referees easily identifiable in order to help ease them into football by building tolerance.

The surge in take-up by novice referees is encouraging for FFV which has been working hard over the past year to make football a safe environment and is reflected by figures for 2010 which saw a substantial decrease in the number of discipline related matters before the tribunal.

FFV is determined to be proactive in this task, working with clubs, supporters and referees in order to further develop football as a sport which provides genuine access for everyone to enjoy.

Latest FFV records show that player suspensions were down by 7%, fines were down by 22% and tribunal hearings were down by 9.2%.

The aim of the FFV referee green shirt initiative is to bring these figures down even further.

FFV Game Development Manager, Salvatore Carmusciano, says that attracting new referees is one thing, while retaining them is something else entirely.

“Everybody makes mistakes, but many people expect referees to be perfect and that’s simply unrealistic. Referees are people like us and we all make mistakes, especially when we are new to something,” Mr Carmusciano said.

"New referees are now going to be easily identifiable in their green shirts. Club members and parents will know to be more tolerant towards these new refs and to give them some room to learn and develop in a safe environment.”

The green shirt idea came about as one of 40 recommendations of a comprehensive referees review conducted late last year.

One of the new recruits, Vinnie Cesnik from Kew, said he couldn’t wait to start as a new referee.

“It was pretty cool to get my green ref's shirt tonight. I love football and this is a great way to be part of the game and getting paid to do something I know I’m really going to enjoy is a bonus,” Vinnie said.

He is aware that referees can sometimes become the target of anti-social behaviour but he’s confident it won’t be too much of an issue.

“I was a bit worried about angry parents having a go at me but it's not as bad as it used to be. I think people realise it’s not what football is supposed to be about,” he said.

“We get good training on how to deal with all types of people and everyone’s chilled out about us because you can’t have a fair game without refs. I can’t wait to get out there!”

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