Andy Griffin, Reading’s much praised fullback on loan from Stoke City has been talking about his future. ‘People ask me,’ he said, ‘what am I going to do when I finish playing but I haven’t any concrete plans.’
Let me give him a suggestion. Take up refereeing. I make this suggestion in all seriousness. There are often complaints from professional players and indeed managers that, unlike cricket for instance, referees don’t come from ex-players and therefore don’t understand the game.
But could someone like Andy Griffin make it to the top? To answer this you have to understand the promotion system. There are ten levels of referees but, in fact, for an adult referee there are only eight steps to reach the top level (1), which would take him on to the National list refereeing on the Football League.
Then there is another promotion required to reach the Select list of officials who referee on the Premier league. It is possible to get a double promotion in one year.
It is unusual and requires a lot of hard work but it is done.
Let me take the case of Andre Marriner because he was playing in non-league football and, like Andy Griffin, loved to play. However, one Sunday he went to watch local team and, as the referee hadn’t turned up, was cajoled into taking the whistle. He rather enjoyed it and decided to take the referees’ course, after which he refereed on a Sunday and continued to play on a Saturday. The time came when to make any progress, he had to make a choice and he decided to abandon playing for refereeing.
A good choice for he has reached a level in the game he could never have done whilst playing. Within eleven years, with one double promotion, he reached the National list refereeing on the Football League. Two years later he was promoted to the Select list, officiating on the Premier League and four years later he achieved the ultimate promotion in refereeing, appointment to the FIFA list.
One thing that now favours ex-players taking up the game, is that age limits have virtually been swept away with age discrimination legislation. This has removed the restrictions for those taking up the game later in life. Rather than age, what matters is getting the marks for performance as a referee and passing the fitness tests.
Andy Davies, formerly with Portsmouth, Gillingham and Yeovil had to stop playing through injury at the age of twenty- eight so turned to refereeing in 2003. He has made rapid progress, again with a double promotion and has already reached the National List line. Some players who have professed to be interested, don’t want to start in local leagues, believing that their knowledge as a player will help them referee at a higher level. I
asked Andre Marriner recently if he thought his playing experience helped him as a referee. His answer was yes and no. Although it helped him understand the game, he still thought like a player and sometimes let players get away with things that he shouldn’t have done. It was only when he started to think like a referee, he said, that his refereeing career took off.
The FA, concerned about the number of good referees coming through the system who will make it to the top, has increased its investment in training for Level 3 referees, from £25,000 in 2005 to £246,000 last season.
So the opportunities are there, not just for professional footballers but anyone, now in their twenties or early thirties and thinking beyond playing. If they want to get to the top, a footballing background alone won’t get them there, they will still need ambition, commitment and the willingness to work hard and, as Andre Marriner showed, learn new skills.
Does it appeal Andy?
Dick Sawdon Smith
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