The FA's support structure for education and training through FAMOA (The FA Match Officials' Association) and social contact, training and companionship through The Referees Association, support from Regional Managers (Referees), is without doubt, the envy of the football world.
Anyone can become a referee, and all have an equal opportunity to be as successful in officiating as their ability allows, irrespective of race, gender, disability, creed or religion.
Although they cannot officiate in open age football until they reach the age of 16, referees can qualify from the age of 14. To this end, both The FA nationally and County FAs offer training courses throughout the year, beginning with the Basic Referees Course. This is delivered over different formats to fit different needs, with some courses actually including refereeing under supervision so trainees know how it feels to be in the middle of a game right from the start.
Once qualified, all new referees join our support network which provides help to all members of our referee team, developing and improving skills to allow everyone to fulfil and reach their full potential.
Promotion through the refereeing ranks is decided through assessment, attendance at further training, successful tests on the Laws of the Game and a satisfactory average mark achieved in a set number of games.
In addition to this traditional route, a vocational qualification for refereeing is now available in this country for the first time. This is the Level 2 Certificate for Match Officials in Football, which consists of modular style training, self evaluation and the completion of a portfolio. Further information about the course can be obtained from County FAs or online at www.TheFA.com/Refereeing.
The FA is constantly seeking to improve refereeing standards, and to demonstrate this we are planning to introduce a Level 1 course which will be linked to basic referee training and which will be available later this year.
So can you meet the challenge? Come and join us and give it a go - unless you try you'll never know!