The emergence of referee training and assessment in football

Controversial decisions, contentious incidents and discussions surrounding a refereeing performance or particular decision are commonplace today. The attention that these decisions now receive is something that has increased greatly since the beginning of the Premier League in England. But whether referees have ever been central to the thinking of the decision makers in football is something that can now be considered through the consultation of historical material.

Before the formation of the FA, the role of the ‘umpire’, as they were termed initially, and latterly ‘referee’ were different from what we know today. Annual Shrove matches at Derby and Scone had ‘men of both sides attend to see fair play’ (Harvey, 2005, p. 84) and as early as 1841, in Bolton, an official awarded the game to the opposition because ‘his’ team was breaking the rules (Harvey, 2001, p. 56). There was an onus on the players themselves, and over time the captains, to agree any disputes on the field of play. In the mid-nineteenth century, the idea of external control developed in public school football and by 1847 there was an established practice of having two ‘umpires’ to resolve disputes (as of 28 May 2013, on the Referees Association website). Despite these mentions of umpires, different rules were being employed in different parts of the country outside the public schools, and it appears that many of these games were regulated and controlled by some form of official.

A referee, in some form, has been a requirement since the formation of the FA in 1863 and the codification of Association Football, in order for football matches to happen. Despite this fact the first laws of the game had no mention of referees (or umpires as they were then called) (Pickford, 1940, p. 135). For umpires (at this time), there were fundamental problems with the rules that were being created by the FA and by the public schools before.

It was not until the first FA Challenge Cup in 1871 that umpires were mentioned (Thomson, 1998, p. 23). They were ‘neutrals’ whose role was to resolve disputes (Russell, 1997, p. 31), however all their decisions had to be agreed by the captains of both teams. It was not until 1888 that referees as we know them were starting to emerge. In 1888 referees were given the power to act as timekeeper (FA Council minutes, 15/04/1888), make decisions when the teams’ umpires could not agree, award free kicks, issue cautions and rule players out of play (Giulianotti, 1999, p. 6). In 1891 they were allowed to move off the sidelines and on to the pitch (Green, 1960, p. 22) and by 1895, the updated laws of the game gave the referee “absolute power” (Witty, 1960, p. 193). These changes marked a clear promotion for the referee, but there was no training or assessment for these individuals.

The first mention of referee training related to fitness comes through an FA memorandum in 1935 which provided expectations of the referee. This section of the memorandum comprises only one paragraph and, aside from the suggestion that Football League clubs should allow referees to use their facilities, the guidance on physical fitness continued to be vague, merely stating that a referee “should train so as to be physically for for this work” (FA memorandum for the guidance of referees and linesmen, January 1935).

It took a further 11 years for a National Referees Conference to be organised in 1946. The conference concluded with four recommendations all related to the training, assessment and promotion of referees countrywide in England (“Brief account of the conference”, 1945, p. 2). The National Referees Conference of 1946 does, it could be argued, provide a focal point in terms of a changing attitude towards refereeing. There was considerable emphasis placed on training, examination and grading of referees, something which had historically been lacking.

In April 1948 a proposal by the FA on refereeing and referee assessment outlined that each League Management committee, at whatever level of football, would adopt a system of reporting on referees similar to that employed by the Football League (“The appointment and promotion of referees”, 1948, p. 8). This meant the FA was introducing assessment for referees by clubs, in the form of a numerical score, at all levels of the game. This was intended to identify the best referees and also track progress over the course of a season. Also in 1948, FIFA began to organise International conferences and a Conference on Refereeing, held in London and organised by the FA alongside FIFA, was attended by delegates from 28 different countries (Green, 1954, p. 92).

Refereeing conferences became more commonplace. During a Referees Association Conference in 1949 a speech given by A.W. Barton (a former FA Cup final referee) sent as a representative of the FA, outlined, amongst other things, that a better method of promotion was needed, a better method of assessing the ability of the individual referee, and also that there needed to be an improvement in the standard of refereeing (Barton, 1949, p. 4). Given that there had been limited training opportunities and information on training practices at this point, this is perhaps unsurprising

By 1951, referees were starting to question the provision of training that they were receiving, through the Referees Association (“Certified Instructors.” 1951, p. 3). This concern over the training provision was warranted because even in 1952 the FA was not instigating any form of training for those that trained the referees throughout the country. This made any standardised provision impossible to ensure (“Certified Instructors.” 1951, p. 3).

Despite the lack of provision of training for referees and referee instructors the FA was sending individuals from their Referees’ Committee to report on referee performances in the FA Cup (FA Referees’ Committee minutes, 03/05/1957). There is also the first mention in the FA minutes of the first of what were to become annual courses for referee instructors that began in 1958 (FA Referees’ Committee minutes, 9/12/1957). These instructor courses were an important milestone in terms of refereeing in England. It meant that referees were being guided by instructors that were themselves being trained for the first time to deliver educational content at varying levels (FA Referees’ Committee minutes, 03/05/1957). It also meant that by the late 1950s the FA was giving explicit direction to referees, on how they should oversee the game, through these instructors.

Further to this guidance from the FA, the Referees Association was also stressing the importance of attendance at physical training and instructional meetings. The Referees Association also warned that referee attendance at these meetings was compulsory to try and ensure uniformity of actions and decision making (“Physical training and instructional meetings”, 1957, pp. 16-17). Training was being administered, although these initial moves into the instruction and training of referees were 70–75 years after the professionalisation of Association Football.

By the turn of the 1960s, with no regular training mechanisms in place, regular conferences or indeed consistent guidance on training and performance, referees were still the poor relations of football in England. By 1960, football had been codified for 97 years, professionalised for 75 years and had a structured, national Football League for 72 years. This was a considerable amount of time that referees were now required catch-up; the move from the sidelines to the centre of the pitch had proven to be a process fraught with difficulties.

Authors’ note: This article is based on my recent paper “The Emergence of Training and Assessment for Referees in Association Football: Moving from the Side-lines”, published in the International Journal of the History of Sport. See more at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09523367.2014.905545#.U1gIZ16TSFc