I think that we would all applaud referees starting at as young an age as possible. However, you wonder if the Premiership have not got it wrong with Stuart Attwell. He's still just in his mid-20s and seems to be being fast-tracked through all the levels.
I don't know how much Football League experience he has- possibly just one season. But they are now talking about putting him on the FIFA list. Wherever he goes now, controversy seems to follow him, including the mysterious "phantom goal" earlier this season.
i am a great believer in that you need to have played it before you can step into the line of fire. There are often things that go on that are if you haven't played the game then the cute players and managers will put one over on someone who doesn't know what's going on around him. Can you tell if a player is going for the ball or is he aiming his tackle at the player, it's a fine line and you need to have played to know and a high ball into the box is someone cute enough to lean into a player stopping his clean header an inexperienced referee will only look for use of the hands and not see a twist of the body which looks as though he is trying to get away from the ball and player when he is cute enough to make the players attempted clearance a little more difficult. Yongsters should referee young games until they have enough experience to step up to a senior level or be an assistant to a senior referee who knows the game.
The young ref at yesterday's game got the two sending off's right but frankly they were not tough decisions to make. He missed two stone wall pens in my opinion when Steve Bell and Jamie Heath were clipped by Ashington defenders. I think these are the type of decisions Dougie may be referring to when he says that you should play before being a referee.
On the subject of Refs I thought the one we had v Cramlington was a complete clown. He booked Carl Armstrong for blocking someone on the half way line,yet did nothing when James Yallop was kicked on the floor right in front of him and god knows why he booked the Cramlington lad.
