Was told earlier that this Saturday the League will have to run without any official referees for the first time in its history

We are that short of refs they've been allocated to more senior leagues

Very sad no new refs joining up

Wow, that is bad news, I officiated in the NDFL until the pandemic stopped things and then I moved away, it’s a really well-run league with a hard-working league secretary and they deserve to have referees available as, generally, the teams are all good, honest sides.

In 2 seasons officiating in the NDFL, I issued just one red card, compared to issuing 8 reds and reporting 2 clubs and coaches for serious misconduct in just a 3-month period in the East Gwent league where some of the players are animals and the clubs badly run.

I've been banging on for years the Welsh FA or even Gwent county need to go into clubs and talk to the youngsters because not every young lad or girl is going to make it there's fantastic opportunities these days to get as far as FIFA referee or assistant some local refs have done champion league games Euro games

Most think of coaching down the line is the option but becoming an official is a fantastic route for youngsters

And match fee's are great pocket money as well

I wouldn’t consider being a local ref. Who wants to work all week, then give up their time on a weekend to get abused by a load of Saturday afternoon thugs fancying themselves as hard men. They got no clue of the rules and act as if they’re Roy Keane and Alex Ferguson.

One further observation - I used to pick up £20 Referee’s fee plus petrol money (not that I ever charged any club travel expenses) for a NDFL game, I’ve now moved to England and am getting twice that money to officiate a comparable game.

If the local leagues and FAW want to attract more referees then they need to increase their fees, and mentor players better. In my experience those referees aged under 21 were ‘looked after’ by mentors while new refs slightly older were left out on their own in parks around Gwent with little support. The NDFL secretary was superb but the Gwent FA and FAW were a joke

I found it interesting that the U12s academy side had no official ref for their game against Plymouth last weekend (which we won 4-1 by the way!).

Is this standard practise at that age group, or is this too because of a shortage? Seems surprising given how well-funded EFL academies are that you still have opposition coaches making calls on offsides, etc. Not that it was overly biased, but there was certainly some selective calls being made.

rncfc wrote:I found it interesting that the U12s academy side had no official ref for their game against Plymouth last weekend (which we won 4-1 by the way!).

Is this standard practise at that age group, or is this too because of a shortage? Seems surprising given how well-funded EFL academies are that you still have opposition coaches making calls on offsides, etc. Not that it was overly biased, but there was certainly some selective calls being made.

Trouble is this early in season police checks not all done yet mate as well for youth football .

rncfc wrote:I found it interesting that the U12s academy side had no official ref for their game against Plymouth last weekend (which we won 4-1 by the way!).

Is this standard practise at that age group, or is this too because of a shortage? Seems surprising given how well-funded EFL academies are that you still have opposition coaches making calls on offsides, etc. Not that it was overly biased, but there was certainly some selective calls being made.

It’s the job of the Gwent County FA to appoint officials to County academy games, they took this task out of County’s hands a couple of years ago. County academy staff had an excellent system in place but were told it was down to GCFA to appoint office not the club.

Seems like GCFA are failing in their duties again if no referee was appointed to that game.