Referees Report

Two State Technical Committee Members successfully complete the National Level 1 Assessors Course
For the first time in almost eight years FNSW State Technical Committee Members, Mr John Parker and Ms Sharon O?Neill have successfully completed the FFA National Level 1 Assessors Course conducted recently in Brisbane.
In previous years FNSW and its referees had been excluded from such training as a result of the intransigence of the previous refereeing bodies.  The newly instituted State Technical Committee has successfully broken down these barriers and convinced FFA that FNSW is a significant supporter of National Officiating Policy.
The qualifications gained by both John and Sharon will allow them to assess and coach referees and assistant referees at all levels of the game from grass roots through to the Hyundai A League and they represent the new face of referee coaching being developed in NSW
Due to illness the third STC member, Simon Micallef was unable to be considered for this course but will complete the program when the course is run in Sydney later this year signalling another first for FNSW and its refereeing department.

Football NSW Referee, Kristian Griffiths- Jones selected to participate in a 20 part ?Refereeing Tips? segment to be run as part of the Football Stars of the Future program
Australian Sports Commission Scholarship holder and FNSW Premier League Referee Kristian Griffiths-Jones will participate in a 20 part segment on ?Refereeing Tips? to be included in the Football Stars of the Future program.
The 40 second segments will highlight to young players and officials significant areas of the Laws of the Game in an effort to improve the general awareness of this important subject among the wider football community here in NSW.
Kristian?s involvement in this series of segments will also assist his development in managing media as he continues on his developmental program under the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Scholarship.
Premier Youth League Uniform a great success
Following its much-heralded release earlier this month the new Premier Youth League referees uniform has proved to be a great success in the eyes of both the referees and the team officials.
The striking new design has served to highlight to those involved in the PYL that this is the start of a totally new concept in referee development where prospective elite officials from all over the Sydney Region have been selected to participate in the Premier Youth League.
The new uniform will also be used by the ladies selected to participate in the Women?s Premier League scheduled to commence later this month and signals FNSW intention to commit to both male and female referee development with equal resources, equipment and expertise.
New Theory Examinations to be rolled out across NSW for referees at all levels
In the coming moNths the State Referees Coach will embark on a program that will effectively cancel the current range of theory examinations available to FNSW referees. 
These examinations have been in wide circulation for a number of years and have generally become contaminated by overuse and uncontrolled distribution and have resulted in the overall quality of candidates diminishing over time.
Effective 1 April 2008 all applicants for reclassification past FFA Level 3 will be required to apply in writing to the State Technical Committee outlining their current officiating history and indicating why they believe they should be considered for reclassification.
The State Technical Committee (STC) will then consider each application on its merits and either approve the application or refer the candidate back for further development.
Additionally, each prospective candidate will have to complete the mandatory FFA Development Modules contained in the new national curriculum making FNSW referees fully compliant with FFA Policy
–       With assistance from NSW State Referees Coach Steve Fenech