Referees praised via West Ryde Rovers FC

A fantastic initiative by the West Ryde Rovers FC has seen the month of June heralded as ‘Referee Appreciation Month’.
The initiative, first of its kind in New South Wales, involves players from all of the Gladesville Hornsby Association clubs to approach referees before and after their respective match and shake hands.
Also, irrespective of the result or issues throughout the game, the captain and coach of each team will thank the referees for their efforts after the final whistle.
Rovers Vice President Lindsay Donald reiterated the importance of referees for the game, thus why their club has pressed on with this initiative.
“In an effort to encourage referees to remain in the pivotal role that they play in our sport, and to encourage the positive aspects of our game, WRRFC have committed to this initiative.”

The Gladesville-Hornsby Association team believes that officials should be praised for good officiating and have set up teams to write a report on the referees after every match.

Donald stated that the West Ryde Rovers club and those that play within the Gladesville-Hornsby Association are lucky with the amount of referee’s available to them and that they want to encourage even more to start.

“We believe that this will have a positive effect on current referees, but more importantly may assist us, and GHFRA, in gaining even more referees to be a part of our game.”

The Rovers encourage other clubs and associations to pick up the initiative and start something similar in giving referee’s the respect.

“WRRFC is confident that this is well within the grasp of every club, irrespective of size, and more importantly for time poor administrators and volunteers, it will require very little level of effort to implement and become a part of something that may have a very distinct and beneficial impact on referees within Football.”