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County FA to launch Referee Academy
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Premiership referee Steve Bennett
By Glenn Pearson

The Kent FA are hoping to launch a Referee Academy later this year to help the development of county officials as they strive to follow in the footsteps of Premier League referee Steve Bennett.

As part of a five-year strategy, the county’s Football Association have been battling to try and retain its referees after figures showed that the same number of officials coming into the game over the course of a year were leaving after becoming disenfranchised with the sport.

The Respect campaign, which seeks to address the relationship between match officials, players, managers and spectators, has gone some way to reversing that trend, and now the KCFA are launching an academy for referees.

It’s hoped the academy, which is scheduled to be ready for September, will help develop young up and coming referees who will officiate in games on a weekly basis at Gillingham’s Centre of Excellence at the University of Kent in Canterbury.

Jon Newson, KCFA’s referees development officer, says officials in the county will get the chance to develop their skills and learn from professional referees in match situations.

He said: “The academy is designed to pull in young referees in a reasonably safe environment at Gillingham’s Centre of Excellence in Canterbury – meaning there won’t be parents on the sidelines shouting at them. It will be a base to coach referees in the hope of taking them onto the next level. They will be coached in a similar manner as Gillingham would develop players to bring them on.

"We would use the Referee Academy to bring along new referees and then sit them down in classroom environment to discuss certain things about the game with some of the top referees we have in the county.

“We would be looking for youngsters that want to put the commitment into being a referee and that will give us a chance to see if they have the ability and we will develop that as required.”

The KCFA are in the process of talking to some top referees in the county, such as Orpington’ Steve Bennett who officiates in the Premier League, to see if they will lend support for the project and be used as mentors.
POSTED: 21/02/2010 09:00:00

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