BAFRA President, Jim Briggs, attended the first meeting of Sports Officials UK since BAFRA's entry into the organisation in December.

He was welcomed to the meeting at which ten sports were represented by SOUK Chairman, Nick Bunting from the RFU.

"It was notable to see just how many of the issues affecting American Football referees are also shared by officials in other sports. We had in-depth discussions on how the training of officials is similar in many sports, for instance, and all sports have problems in recruiting enough officials," said Briggs. "There is a lot that officials in different sports can learn from each other."

One possibility discussed at the meeting was that officials from non-Olympic sports may be temporarily "loaned" to other sports for the duration of the 2012 London Olympic Games. "Many of the skills required by officials are generic, and can be transferred to other sports relatively easily" added Briggs.