17 Top football referees spent their summer training camp in Cornwall unknown to their amateur colleagues in the county. Two of their number, Chris Foy and Steve Bennett were booked to attend an evening with local refs to discuss the latest aspects of refereeing.
The evening went well and towards the end 15 other Premier League referees walked in to the clubhouse at St Blazey to a great welcome form the audience.
It turned out that the Select group of Premier League referees had held their summer training camp in the county. They were based at the Carlyon Bay Hotel and used local facilities including Par Running Track.
During the public evening event the audience of local referees were treated to the Professional Game Match Officials’ General Manager, Keith Hackett demonstrating the latest in technology to assist referees. It’s called ProZone and the software tracks the movement on a screen of the players and the referee. It’s used as a training tool at the top-level and shows match officials whether they've got their position right or wrong in relation to the players on the field.
Keith was followed by Chris Foy who explained what the Premier League is doing to implement The FA’s Respect programme. Called Get On With The Game, this initiative centres around codes of conduct for managers and chairman who sign up to set a standard for the players and staff in their clubs to respect the decision of the referee and not to crowd him or overreact to decisions on the pitch.
International FIFA Referee Instructor and Premier League referee Steve Bennett got the audience involved by getting them to watch clips from matches and asking them to make a decision about what they’d seen. Needless to say, this proved the most debated part of the evening.
The entrance by the other Premier League officials was greeted with warmth and enthusiasm by the audience. Most people there really did get to meet their refereeing heroes on the night.
Samantha Congdon (pictured), a member of the Cornwall referee development centre, was thrilled to have her picture taken with the Premier League refs. She said, “I thought Chris and Steve were really nice guys. Their talks were very interesting and informative. It was cool to meet them before any one else, whilst the pictures were being taken.
“Whilst Steve was doing his talk, Sam Rabey and I were sorting out the raffle tickets when we noticed the other referees all gathering - then when they all walked in everyone just was in shock! It was really nice to talk to all of them.”
Ray Brown, Cornwall FA’s Referee Development Officer said, “What a fantastic evening! The Premier League guys were brilliant - all willingly signed autographs, posed for photographs and generally inspired and enthused all the local referees. With the promise of more high profile visits from the top people in refereeing throughout the forthcoming season, exciting times are ahead for Cornish refereeing. Our very grateful thanks are extended to all at the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd for the support of such events. I know they enjoyed their time in Cornwall and look forward to our continued working relationship”
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