2018 Highlights – SFAR Edinburgh and District

Once again the Association has enjoyed another successful year, not only measured in the number of new entrants, prestigious appointments and promotions but by the healthy activity which has taken place throughout the year as outlined by Vikki who has once again pulled together the highlights and major talking points.

What is remarkable is the amount of commitment shown to the Association not only in terms of on the park where it matters most in terms of performance but by all the off-field activity. In terms of commitment however it would be wrong not once again to highlight the examples set by Bill Mullan who  sadly passed away in November and George Smith who retired after 58 years unfailing service to Scottish Refereeing and our Association in particular.

I am sure the Association has a bright future ahead in the next year. We have now bedded in the new Constitution and the recent changes in our meeting format brought in by our President Stuart Luke has been refreshing with an even greater emphasis on coaching and reflection on refereeing which has given rise to some lively debate. If you have not been to an Association meeting can I encourage you to come along. You will be very welcome.

New Year, new goals…I am sure that you will use this time of the year to refocus and evaluate what you want to achieve from your  refereeing. It does not matter what level we are at or what role we play I am sure we all wish to continue to develop and to do our best.

Wherever this year takes us can I therefore on behalf of Calum, Martin and I wish you and your families every success and a Happy New Year.

Mark Doyle
Assistant Association Manager
SFAR Edinburgh and District

2018 Highlights

Referee Awareness Course January 2018

In January we held our referee awareness course, which was aimed at Females. We had a great attendance and some even transferred onto the full course! The day is a short course, which includes an interactive session! We are looking forward to our upcoming course in January 2019! Thanks to @ScotFASouthEast for supporting and to @murieutdgirls for coming along to help!

Nutritional Session – January 2018

We all know how hard it is after the Festive Period to look after our nutrition, which is why we held a nutrition session for all our members to come along and hear what can help us perform better!

La Manga Winter Training Camp

At the end of January our top referees went to the Scottish FA winter training camp in La Manga! Below is a photo of them before one of the training sessions with our Referee Committee member Calum Murray and our Physio Nicole!

Presentation to the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity

At our association meeting in February we presented the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity with a cheque for £2000!! This was the funds raised from our Annual Charity Quiz at the tail end of 2017. An absolutely fantastic amount!! We can’t wait to present the money from this years quiz early in the New Year!

Kieran Green Presented with Trophy for U18 Independent Schools Final

In February we presented Kieran Green with his award for being appointed to the U18 Independent Schools Scottish Cup Final!

Referee Courses 2018

During the year we run 2 referee classes one in February over 5 Sundays and the other in August over 10 Monday evenings. This is the full course, which will allow you to become a qualified Scottish FA referee. This year alone we have had 35 pass the course (5 of who are female), which is fantastic!! Look out for adverts on our upcoming class soon or for more info see our website www.edinburghanddistrictreferees.co.uk or email instruction.edra@gmail.com

Futsal Course & Blog

In December we ran a Futsal Course in which 8 referees attended from EDRA and other Associations. We were very lucky that FIFA Futsal Referee Gordon McCabe came along to assist as well! In October Dominic Falconer wrote a blog for our website on why to become a Futsal Referee.

Daniel Graves featured on Scottish FA site

In February it was great to see Daniel Graves one of our Cat 3 Referees on the Scottish FA website speaking about his referee journey and how this began on the SQA Referee Course!! This year we had a fantastic amount of referees join through this programme, especially on the female refereeing side where we saw 4 new referees join the association!

Youth Referee Ambassador Programme Created

In 2018 Vikki Allan our Secretary who is also the Youth Referee Ambassador of Change until the end of this year created the Youth Referee Ambassador Programme. The Youth Referee Ambassadors are a follow on programme to the Scottish FA’s Youth Ambassadors of Change. In February Vikki Allan was featured on the Scottish FA website promoting this programme and why it is important for the recruitment and retention of referees.

Youth Referee Ambassador appointed for EDRA

In 2018 the Youth Referee Ambassadors were created this is a follow on programme to the Scottish FA’s Youth Ambassadors of Change. The YRA’s look to support recruitment and retention of young referees all over Scotland. Calum Doyle was appointed as our YRA here in Edinburgh and District!

Supporting International Women’s Day

At the Edinburgh and District Referee Association we are very lucky to have such a great group of female referees. Back at the end of 2015/early 2016 we set up our Women’s team to promote recruitment and retention of female referees. Back then we only had around 3-4 active female officials at the Association which had been stagnant for around ten years, we are now beyond delighted to have around 15! Back in March we celebrated International Women’s day by displaying a post of some of their achievements.

Presentations at SSFRA Dinner

In May the EDRA had a table at the SSFRA dinner in which Fiona Morton and Iain Snedden were both presented with awards for their appointment on the Women’s Scottish Cup Final in 2017!

Support the Referee Week on Sky Sports News

March was Support the Referee week on Sky Sports, we were very lucky to have two guest appearances on the show! Daniel Graves went on Sky Sports News to talk more about the SQA Referee course. He spoke about the benefits and skills that can be learnt from refereeing! Check out the interview below:

The second interview on Sky Sports News was Vikki Allan and Crawford Allan! They discussed the opportunities available to referees, the SQA programme at Holy Rood High School (which was being run by Daniel Graves with around 40 students taking part!!) and the great sponsorship between refereeing and the support which Specsavers offer.

SQA Presentations

In April Martin Clark and Mark Doyle both attended Holy Rood High School and Dalkeith High School to present a number of pupils with certificates for successfully passing the SQA Referee Course. 56 pupils sat the course, which is fantastic! Thanks to both Steven Wilson and Daniel Graves for leading the courses.

Trainers, Development Advisers and Seminars

Thanks to our Trainers and development advisers for a great year of training and development as well. We train every week with our trainers and they keep us in great shape. Our Development advisors also go to our games week in and week out to give us advice to make sure we are the best referees we can be. Once a month at training we run various different seminars focusing on aspects of officiating such as Assistant Referee, Sanction Procedure… etc.

Annual Dinner

In May we had our Annual Dinner, which is a Celebration of the Achievements from the Association members. Many awards were presented on the evening see list below:

National Cup Finals –Fiona Morton, Stewart Luke, Iain Snedden, Vikki Allan, Kevin Lindsay & Niamh Westwood

Nut of the Year – Nelson Da Silva

Trainers Award – Craig Ferguson

Referee’s Referee of the Year – Duncan Smith

Development Award – Mark Harris

Presidents Award – Derek Hall

Frank Campbell Memorial Award – Kieran Kennedy

Bill Tait – Ryan Lee

Retirements – Crawford Allan & Alan Hogg

At the Dinner we also share a video of achievements from throughout the season – check it out on our homepage!

Retirements

At the end of the season we also had some retirements from the Association, these were recognised at the August Association Meeting.

Alan Ferguson

Andrew Shepherd

Gavin Kennedy

Willie Weir

Equal Playing Field

In March, Vikki Allan one of our female referees went to Jordan with Morag Pirie from the Aberdeen Association to be Assistant Referee in a World Record breaking football match. This was the second World Record for the duo after climbing Kilimanjaro in 2017 to get the record for the highest game in the world. The match in Jordan was the lowest Altitude match in the world by the Dead Sea. During this trip they also took part in 4 football camps across Jordan with 700 little girls teaching them football and refereeing skills. For some of the girls this was the first time they had ever played outside let alone with a football and was a very emotional trip! This was an initiative with @EqualPlayingField to raise awareness of gender equality in sports. Check out the documentary from their first trip with the second documentary airing soon about Jordan!

SCORE 16

This year also saw David Doig and Simon MacLean complete their SCORE Training and were presented with certificates from Craig Thomson. SCORE (Scottish Centre of Refereeing Excellence) programme is the Scottish equivalent of CORE for our up and coming referees. This for looking at areas such as match preparation, player management, control of the game, tactical awareness and fitness training, combined with practical exercises and mental preparation.

We also caught up with David and Simon to hear all about how they found the programme.

SCORE 18

This year also saw Daniel Graves and Craig Ferguson gain entry on the SCORE (Scottish Centre of Refereeing Excellence) programme which is the Scottish equivalent of CORE for our up and coming referees. This for looking at areas such as match preparation, player management, control of the game, tactical awareness and fitness training, combined with practical exercises and mental preparation.

Promotions

2018 was a fantastic year for promotions at the EDRA, with around 18 officials being promoted! Well done to all!!

Development Academy

The Development Academy, which is now in its fourth year, continued in 2018 to support on a regular basis our development category referees. Regular seminars and fitness sessions have been held throughout the year with guest presenters and these have helped support a number of referees in their fledgling referee careers over the seasons. Thank you to all who helped support and also attend this.

Child Protection Team

This year also saw a massive project come into play for our Child Protection Officers at the EDRA! They had to ensure every referee pre 2004 had the EDRA up to date Disclosure. This was a massive project but the team were fantastic and never let it faze them. Thank you to George and David!

George Smith Retirement

In October it was announced that George Smith would be retiring as an observer. Mr Smith has been involved with refereeing and the Edinburgh and District Association for 58 years. Mr Smith was a top domestic official but also a FIFA Referee for Scotland, he retired from refereeing in 1992 and was appointed to what is known now as the Referee Committee. Mr Smith still remains as the only EDRA referee to have been appointed to the World Cup. The Association posted a tribute to Mr Smith on the website noting many of his accolades. There were further tributes at our Association meeting in November by Calum Murray. 

Social Team

At the Edinburgh and District Association we also have a great Social team who organise events throughout the year for our refereeing family! These have included great events such as go karting, regular get together, FootGolf, Annual Charity Quiz and our flagship event the Annual Dinner! Details of our Annual Dinner for 2019 were sent out recently by email and will be posted on social media early in the New Year.

2018 Appointments

We are very lucky at the EDRA to be appointed to some fantastic fixtures! Below are a list of prestigious appts this year:

In May the Women’s Leagues had their Cup Finals. Emma Hingant (AR1), Niamh Westwood (AR2) and Vikki Allan (Fourth Official) were appointed to the League One Cup Final between Hibernian U23 v Celtic. For the League Two Cup Final Vikki Allan was the Referee between Spartans FC v Kelty Hearts.

Back in April Iain Snedden and Ryan Lee were appointed to officiate at the Scottish Youth Cup Final Hibernian v Aberdeen as referee and fourth official respectively.

In May Fiona Morton officiated at the Women’s League Cup Final, Hibernian v Celtic. This match was live on BBC Alba.

David Doig was appointed to a UEFA Mini Tournament as an Assistant Referee for the U19 Elite Round:

Denmark v. Turkey

Austria v. Denmark

Denmark v. Bosnia & Herzegovina

In November Fiona Morton (Fourth Official) and Vikki Allan (AR2) officiated at the Women’s Scottish Cup Final, Hibernian v Motherwell. This match was live on BBC Alba.

Gavin Duncan was appointed to a UEFA U21 Championship Qualifying Match between Sweden v Hungary as Fourth Official.

Vikki Allan was appointed to a UEFA Women’s Champions League Tournament as Assistant Referee:

Gornik Leczna v Anderlecht

Gornik Leczna v Martve

Martve v Anderlecht

David Doig was appointed as AR1 at a UEFA Youth league 2nd Leg 1st Round match between IF Elfsborg v KR Reyjkavik.

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