Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Voice of
The RA
Supporting Referees since
1908
Viewpoint
The RA-FA Youth Council is now broadening its highly successful Referee Development
Fund to include County RAs and Local RAs, something which will give a real benefit to ALL
members at all levels. So together lets make this work as together we will be stronger.
Over recent years, The RA Board has given extra tools to stimulate growth:
1) The excellent RA-FA YC Best Practice Guide;
2) Together with QUEST giving an operational framework;
3) The Development Fund gives access to resources for LRAs and CRAs;
4) New Member fee of just 4.
We continue working with third parties to give additional benefits which will bring real
financial gains to individual members, plus working towards the delivery of CPD events.
We are giving LRAs real tools to recruit new members and re-engage with ex-members.
So it will be very interesting to see the engagement from CRAs and LRAs with the RA-FA YC
Development Fund - this is an application-driven process with real Key Performance
Indicators, and only if all KPIs are achieved will the grant be paid. So The RA, with the
support of The FA, will be providing resources to all LRAs, subject to the defined
application process. See www.rafayc.co.uk/rdf
The Referee
November
2015
Whats
inside?
Viewpoint
Announcements
QUEST
A moment in
history
Events
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Announcements
Email addresses to the RA will be changing. The RA has
suffered from a lack of brand identity as The Referees
Association or The RA, where these have not been part
of our email address. Effective business structure
requires strict email control, so that emails do not go to
private email addresses. Our thanks to Derek Mansfield
for facilitating this process, which will greatly aid the
automation of our Support Centre.
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November/December 1945 When the Second World War broke out in 1939, one of the first casualties
was Association Football. During the long and anxious following six years, the games lingering became evident as
history repeated itself. After a transitory period, sport (and football in particular) will see a boom, just as happened
after the Great War. There is now a great demand for referees, BUT we are most concerned about the supply of
efficient officials, where there is likely to be a shortage. It was reported that on August 24th a meeting was held at
noon in the Royal Hotel at Paddington between The FA and The RA, involving Messrs. W.C.Cuff, A.E.Spring, and S.F.
Rous, where the following was agreed:
1. the FA asked for RA help in organising instructional classes for refereeing candidates;
2. a uniform system of examination to be prepared by the FA and the RA;
3. grading of a referee by a County Association to be accepted by all other Associations;
4. uniform fees agreed of 7/6d for Class 1; Class 2 & 3 would receive 5/-; only one registration fee across all CFAs;
5. Associations or Societies of Referees should be represented on their County Football Association Council;
6. professional players should be encouraged to become candidates for examination;
7. worthy referees should be offered accelerated promotion, whether or not they apply.
The Football Association also noted that referees should consider the Game as a whole, being the most important
person on the field; that referees should form a National Association for mutual help; and that every Referee should
join that Association. Referees must not only know the Laws of the Game thoroughly, but must use common sense
in applying them. And finally the Football Association must trust referees for the proper ruling of the Game, and will
support them and protect them to the limit of its power.
Membership Fees
Please ensure that payment for membership is efficiently paid. We are currently having to chase LRAs to process
payments in a timely manner failure to do so could impact on your members in a negative way.
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Since the start of the summer, several enhancements have been made to the RA Website. There is still
much to do, but at present it does give all LRAs the opportunity to display their meeting details plus other
news and event items. Every LRA can now update their own page - we just need a recognised Officer to
contact itsupport@the-ra.org to request a login, and you will then receive login details plus some short
instructions on the update procedures. Maintaining your details through this site will help us to ensure
that we have up-to-date circulation details for all our LRAs.
Some of our LRAs have pictures of their meeting locations, most of which have been gathered from
Googles Street View. But if you have better pictures, please submit them to the same email address.
The RA Website also has back copies of Referee magazine available, in both PDF and ebook formats. But
to use the ebook format, you will need to have flash player installed on your computer.
We welcome any news from LRAs and CRAs, plus any suggestions you have about other items for inclusion.
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Eve-of-Final Rally
Meet the 2016 FA Cup Final
Match Officials:
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