Here at North Riding County FA, we are looking to increase our FA Refereeing Mentor Workforce in order to support the development and transition of new trainee referees from their FA Referee Course to fully qualified status. 
Over recent years, we have significantly increased the number of new trainee referees that we recruit, train and develop, therefore, we are looking to increase our mentor workforce so that we can offer the appropriate level of support to new trainee referees. 

For season 2023/24, we are looking to recruit around 130 new referees, as we look to significantly increase the number of referees that we have registered, in order to support local grassroots football. 

What’s involved?

As a Referee Mentor, you will be assigned a small group of trainee referees (usually two or three) to be a ‘point of contact’ and provide a weekly sounding board to ensure your cohort of referees are engaged and enjoying their refereeing, as well as receiving regular refereeing appointments. 

In addition to the above, you will be at the end of the telephone for any questions or issues they may have, and you will have the full support of our Head of Mentoring, Geoff Mann and Referee Development Manager, Ross Joyce should you need any clarification. 

We ask that Referee Mentors go out and provide matchday support to our new trainee referees at one of their early games.  An expense payment of £22.00 is payable for each matchday visit upon receipt of a brief mentor report which takes around 20 minutes to complete and return to the Head of Mentoring. You will also be provided with a notebook and pen. 

All new Mentors will be provided with FA accredited CPD which will take place online (Zoom) in the near future to ensure they are fully prepared. All of our FA Referee Mentors must have in place an FA DBS and an FA Safeguarding prerequisite in order to carry out the role as a Mentor. 

Who are we looking for? 

Ideally, we are looking for anybody who has had two or more years’ experience as a referee and is at least 18 years of age.  You can still be an active referee (in fact a lot of our Referee Mentors currently are) and we would be looking for you to offer a very small number of dates (usually Sunday mornings) to go out and support our new trainee referees. 

If you are interested, please email Geoff Mann, Head of Mentoring, ASAP, but no later than Monday, 4 September to express your interest – geoff.mann@northridingfa.com 

We will review all expressions of interest to appraise suitability and make contact with those who we would like to bring onboard to support our new refereeing workforce throughout 2023/24.