FA To Run Ref Recruitment Drive

The FA is to announce a major new recruitment drive for referees at grassroots level after revealing that 7,000 football referees are quitting every season due to abuse on the pitch and on the touchlines.

A spokesman stated: ‘Two and a half million people want to play more football, but we have a shortage of referees. We were very clearly told that having a qualified referee for every game played at grassroots level was the players’ top priority.

‘Set that against the 7,000 referees leaving the game every season, primarily because of the abuse, and it doesn’t take a genius to see we have a major problem – which if allowed to continue could destroy the game in some parts of the country.’

The new ‘Get into Refereeing’ campaign will run alongside The FA’s Respect programme which focuses on the relationship between players and match officials.The FA estimates that in some areas of the country, 20% of games are played without a qualified match official.