ra news (april 2016)

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Find us on Twitter @RefsAssociation - Like us on Facebook The Referees Association – read us www.the-ra.org

Supporting Refereessince 1908

The Voice

of The RA

April 2016

The official publication of

The Referees’ Association


1c Bagshaw Close

Ryton on Dunsmore

Warwickshire

CV8 3EX

Tel: 02476 420360

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.the-ra.org

Event details released

Welcome to the April edition, which provides all RA Members with detailsof a Weekend of Development and Learning fromThe Referees’ Association and the RA-FA Youth Council.

Our aim remains to give every LRA the necessary tools and to give

Every member outstanding value for money.

The AGM is being held in July, so ensure your voice is heard, andmake sure your LRA considers your wishes. There is a different

process for voting this year, with NO debate at the AGM itself.

Precise details will follow in the coming weeks, but please note

meanwhile that after 15th April a secure “Discussion Board” will

be opened up for debate via a special FACEBOOK group -

search for THE RA - MOTIONS AND RULES 2016 and LIKE us.


is run by Referees for the benefit of Referees

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Secure On-Line Booking

www.participant.co.uk/tra/keepcalmandmanage

http://www.participant.co.uk/tra/keepcalmandmanagehttp://www.participant.co.uk/tra/keepcalmandmanage

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Bromsgrove RA

At Bromsgrove RA we always strive to offer as much support to our referees as we can. We wanted to

run a mentorship programme in our area to help provide existing referees with a Mentor each, as our

County FA only provides Mentors for new referees straight off the course. We want to help to support

referees operating in the local area and to help improve referee retention and development, which inturn increases the amount of referees being nominated for the Referee, Assistant Referee,

Development Group or WFA Development Group. We believe that Mentors play an important role in

the development of a referee, as a first point of contact when they need advice and support. By

supporting referees we can help to increase retention.

As an RA we could not fund a project like this on our own and we needed some extra support. The

Referee Development Fund was originally suggested to us by our Regional Representative, Charles

Humphrys, as a way to help fund projects to help aid the development and retention of referees. The

application process was very simple. The application form had a very helpful ‘step -by-step’ guide to

help make filling out the form easy to do. Our Regional Representative was very helpful and was very

approachable when we had any questions, and he also helped to give us tips on how to write a

successful application.

Our correspondence with the RA-FA Youth Council has been excellent and this has helped a smooth

and straight forward application process. We would highly recommend the Referee Development

Fund to any other RAs who wish to start a project to help refereeing in their areas.

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The-RAshop.org

During the next few weeks the RA shop is changing to www.the-rashop.org

This change will enable us to provide all MEMBERS and LRAs with special offers anddiscounts. We have launched a bespoke website (all linked) so the user functionality will be the same

throughout. We will also have the ability to email all our customers directly as we seek a more focussed

marketing approach in order to increase our market share away from competitor retail operations.

LRA sales are currently around 5% of the referee equipment supply chain. This needs to increase, and by

giving

Enhanced bulk discounts to LRAs it provides additional tools to engage with

local referees whilst also making a small return.

The retail landscape has changed away from bricks to clicks - it is now brand-driven and

internet based. By the end of this month, the RAshop will have the ability to take membershipsubscriptions and offer immediate discount on equipment. The general pricing strategy of RAshop will

remain market-leading as we respond to all other retailer threats.

http://www.the-rashop.org/http://www.the-rashop.org/http://www.the-rashop.org/

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Insurance highlights

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There has been a recent uplift in bad practice as seen on all the news channels. The RA has

been fully supporting our local members, both in their own area through specially convened

meetings as well as nationally.

The RA is working with our stakeholders to reverse the negativity surrounding this issue. We

will be working with the FA to give a positive view, whilst recognizing that there are significant

issues requiring attention, not only from the football family, but the police and government.

We have engaged with broadcasters who wish to promote refereeing in a positive light rather

than merely highlighting bad practice by parents and somehow blaming the referees for this.

Barkston Ash LRA presented with Gold QUEST by Mike Riley at an event sponsored by the CFA.

RA Board Members have attended a number of LRAs to make presentations promoting the

Association and to answer questions from members - several more such visits are planned.

Details of this year’s Eve of Final Rally (Meet the 2016 FA Cup Final Officials) on Fri.20/05/16

have been launched - entry to this historic annual event is now FREE to all RA members.

Details of the RA Development Weekend at Hinckley on Sat.16th and Sun.17th July 2016 have

been launched via all available media channels, and the online booking portal has gone live.

The RA now has a Promotional Video via a newly-established “creativedevelopment” outsource link. This resource will be provided to ALL Local and County RAs only,

and will be transmitted via WeTransfer (download time will depend on your local network speed).

The RAshop has been reformatted and referees can now join the RA through it.

YOU TH

R R

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Appeal for articles and video footage

Do you have any training articles or interesting news items? If so, then let us spread the word that the

Referees’ Association is open for business. Let others know how you are leading the way in the developmentof your own LRA and in enhancing the performance of your members.

Please send your articles in Word, images as jpegs, and videos as MP4 (or something similar) to:

[email protected]

Operation Sutcliffe …

Education, Entertainment, Encouragement

Project update –

We are in discussion with 5 “training” providers regarding portal tools, with one alreadyproviding a market-leading educational tool for FA coaches.

All LRAs are invited to apply for initial training materials – this allows us to understandany initial difficulties.

Materials will be sent out via WeTransfer

Simply click on the supplied link …

Training has been prepared by FA Tutors and validated by RDOs in RA membership.

A recent survey on social media illustrates there is an overwhelming need for on-linetraining for members - interestingly, ex-members stated this was a key reason for themnot re-joining the RA.

BUT we need grass roots footage/clips - the portal is not an issue, but the resourcecontent is a significant concern.

To improve as far as possible the standard ofRefereeing and to assist all existing Referees’ Associations in their educational and generalwork.

Thursday 5th March 1908

Charles Sutcliffe - RA Chairman

Click here

Download complete

and find in your

download folder

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

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When the RA Union supported Arthur Adams ….

Did you know: The Eve of Final Rally has been an event in the RA calendar

since 1914, but the story really started with the 1913 FA Cup Final - Sunderland

v Aston Villa - when the Referee was not presented with his FA gold medal.

The Chairman said: Never again will a Union member go without a medal.

The first Eve of Final Rally was on Friday 24th April 1914, held in the HolbornRestaurant in Covent Garden - Liverpool v Burnley - refereed by 32 year old

Herbert Bamlett from Gateshead, and as they say: the rest is history.

Eve of Final Rally 2 16

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Our local - national family

The RA Facebook page reaches

over 2m people in 10 days,

and the video is viewed by over800,000 of them …

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Camaraderie Friendship, Comradeship, Fellowship and Togetherness

Presentation of RA 50-year Membership Award to Joe McMahon

(centre) of Andover LRA, made by Board Member Reg Pullen (left)

on behalf of the RA, with Andover RA Chairman Andy Henwood.

Joe is currently the President at Andover LRA, having served in a

number of capacities there over many years since moving from

London, including a lengthy stint as Society Secretary.

It is no exaggeration to say that, along with a couple of colleagues,

Joe kept the Andover RA Branch afloat through some difficult times,

and as Reg Pullen said when presenting the Award to him, Joe's

perseverance and dogged determination helped to overcome the

difficulties faced by that local branch over many years.

Joe and his wife recently celebrated their 60th wedding

anniversary, so Joe now has both a telegram from the Queen

and a 50-year Award from the Referees' Association.

Joining many of the finest servants to local Peterborough football,

Nicholas Titman was presented with the FA 50 years service to football

award at a recent ceremony held in Northampton.

Nicholas started his footballing career in Barton Upon Humber before

moving to London. A knee injury curtailed him playing the game and

he passed a referee course in 1969. He made rapid progress, being

promoted from Class 3 to Class 1 in rare successive seasons. This

opened the doors for him to refereeing all around the world, including

the USA. In 1975 he was honoured by being appointed to referee the

English Schools U18 National Final.

From 1986 he was a resident of Peterborough, regularly officiating in

the Peterborough & District FL and the Midland Purity League. He was

a regular for 19 years in refereeing the RWT 7-a-side leagues. He is

also known as a Mentor, Assessor, and Administrator of football. He

also organised Futsal tournaments in Belgium and Luxembourg, and

at the UK & Ireland Corporate Games. He has previously been a

member of the West Riding Referees Association and Peterborough

RA. The photograph shows him being presented with his award by his

good friend Derek Vernum and FA representative Brian Walden.

Photograph courtesy Northamptonshire FA

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