The London FA Female Officials Programme is run in partnership with Arsenal Girls’ Centre of Excellence. Starting in 2008/09, it consists of a group open to all qualified female officials and run by a Level 3 referee with extensive experience in the women’s game. The aim of the project is to increase the support given to female officials, and subsequently increase the number of female referees in London. The group meets on a quarterly basis to discuss a range of relevant topics, observe experienced referees or listen to a guest speaker.
In addition to this, members of the group receive ongoing mentoring and the opportunity to officiate at Arsenal Girls’ Centre of Excellence and receive feedback on their performance and support from experienced referees.
Photograph thanks to Action Images
Project details Project duration: 01 January 2008 - ongoing
Organisation:
London Football Association
Project name:
Female Officials Programme
Audience All women
Innovation
The project provides an opportunity for female officials to gain experience in an environment where the focus is on development, giving officials the opportunity to start with a younger age group and work their way up to games involving older players as they gain more experience.
Recruitment and promotion
Participants were recruited by directly contacting all London FA registered female referees. The project was promoted by holding an official launch at The FA HQ incorporating a Q&A session with a panel of special guests including experienced referees and representatives from Arsenal and London FA, as well as promoted through various websites and e-newsletters.
Location
How was your project delivered? FootballFunding
The project is jointly funded by Arsenal Girls’ Centre of Excellence and London FA
Partnership
The main partnership is between Arsenal Girls’ Centre of Excellence and London Football Association
Results
Lessons:
The hardest thing is to attract enough female officials to the programme so sometimes running the programme jointly with another County FA might be a good idea to ensure a big enough pool of officials.
Evaluation:
The project was monitored using feedback from the female officials involved. This was positive demonstrating a successful project. This success is also demonstrated by the progression and improvement of the female officials over time as confirmed by Arsenal and the London FA mentors.
Eight officials took part in the programme in Year 1 and 6 in Year 2. Oone referee who joined the programme at the beginning of year 1 by refereeing U10s games. She has steadily progressed and recently started refereeing the U16s and received excellent feedback from Arsenal and her mentor. She now also referees 11 a side games regularly outside of the programme.
The number of female officials taking part in the second year decreased. This is being addressed by arranging a female-only referee course nearby so that the females that qualify from this are able to get involved in the programme.
Themes
Workforce development
The programme provides mentoring and support for female referees, as well as paid employment through refereeing on match days at Arsenal Girls’ Centre of Excellence.
