Moray plea for more refs
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A CALL has gone out for men and women to consider becoming referees to support the development of football in Moray.
An acute shortage of officials is threatening organised football at all levels – particularly girls’ football.
The Moray and Banff Referees Association is about to launch another training course for would-be whistlers and assistants.
Ian Cargill, an Elgin-based ref, said: "There is football just about every day of the week and we are sometimes finding members covering two and three games a week."
Former Highland League footballer turned schools referee Steven Rattray has called on the ladies of Moray to support girls and schools football in the region.
Few qualified female referees have emerged in Moray and this has already resulted in problems for schools football, with a number of matches being postponed this season due to the referee shortage.
Rattray has taken on the role of co-ordinating referee appointments for the secondary schools matches in Moray as a part of the LEADER-funded ‘Developing Opportunities Through Sports’ project.
"We are finding that quite often there is a situation where senior schools games, involving players of up to 18 years, are being refereed by volunteers without any qualification because qualified refs are being assigned to girls U-13 matches.
"From a health and safety point of view that concerns me and we have seen a whole set of fixtures between Speyside High and Milne’s High wiped out because we couldn’t get referees.
"We have talked about crisis points in terms of refereeing in the past but I think that because of the growth of the girls game in the region we have now reached it."
An eight-week referees course is due to start at the end of September, and the venue will be determined by the number and location of the participants.
Anyone interested in finding out more about the course should contact Douglas Ross on 07779 999 283 or Ian Cargill on 07584 058 073.
