KENT REFEREES' ASSOCIATION

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Welcome to the Kent Referees' Association Website

BENEFITS OF JOINING THE KENT REFEREES' ASSOCIATION

The Kent Referees’ Association is an organised group of people involved with Refereeing which is run by Referees for the benefit of Referees. We are a County RA associated to the Referee Association, which has its head office in Coventry.

We liaise with 16 affiliated local societies that operate throughout Kent and most of our 635 members (as of March 2010) attend their monthly meetings but, also have the support of the Referee Association at County and National level.

Men and women take up refereeing for a number of reasons, some are frustrated footballers while others have come to the end of their playing careers and have decided to put something back into the game.

Some start their refereeing at school, whilst others begin a career with the whistle later in life. A very small number of us will go to the very top and reach the FA Premier League or International level either as a Referee or as an Assistant Referee, most will be active on the local parks or somewhere in between.

Everyone within the football community whether players, administrators, supporters or Referees all have the same objective, that is to participate in and to maximise their enjoyment from the game which we all love.

It would be fair to say that we referee because we enjoy it. All referees, however, are professional in that we receive a fee for our service and it is only right therefore that we show a professional attitude.

There are several benefits of membership of The Kent Referees' Association. We provide a low cost Insurance Policy, various training and information publications, a Benevolent Fund for those of our members who are in need and most importantly, through our network of local societies we encourage discussion on the game not only amongst members, but also with various footballing bodies

Insurance

We operate an extremely low cost Personal Accident Insurance scheme for members which is currently £4.00 PER YEAR and which provides insurance cover whilst travelling directly to and from a game and during a game, whilst on recognised referees' society business and also for the theft of refereeing equipment to the value of £200. The weekly benefits provided are at the rate of £100 per week if a referee is injured as a result of an accident. The insurance policy only covers

resident members of The Association whilst refereeing in the

Benevolent Fund

We hope that our members never need assistance from the Benevolent Fund but, sadly, some of our members do fall on hard times and are in need. Whatever the reason for this need the Benevolent Fund is there to assist all of our members. If you need assistance please contact the Secretary who will assist you further.

Local Societies

Local societies operate like a self help group where referees meet together to discuss different aspects of the game (match incidents, mentoring, promotion, positioning and movement, fitness, etc), we learn from and with each other to improve our refereeing skills. Continual in house training on the interpretation and implementation of law helps to improve match day performances. By discussing Refereeing issues with colleagues from different levels of the game, we are able learn from the experiences of others and to implement methods of best practice which will improve our match day performance and increase our enjoyment from the game. Most local societies have representatives on the local football league or competition to ensure that problems can be quickly discussed and resolved.

So why not come along and join your local Referee Association branch? Details of your local branch can be found on the 'Find a local society' page.