Officiating Football
Officials perform a vital role in the sport, enabling participants to compete within the spirit of the sport through the effective application of its rules and laws. With the continued increase in the popularity of American football the demand for officials is growing.
BAFA, through its Referees’ Association, is committed to providing an officiating pathway and support system which aids the recruitment, retention and development of officials across both contact and non contact football.
Qualification clinics, on-field training, localised support groups, an extensive resource library and national conventions form the core of the Referees’ Association’s offer with details of upcoming events highlighted on the Diary section of the website.
Officiating Qualifications
The Referees’ Association offers a development framework which comprises both on field experience and classroom and home-based learning.
The Associate Officials Qualification and the Flag Officials Qualification
The Associate Officials qualification is a one-day course aimed primarily as an introductory qualification which provides people with the basics of officiating knowledge and acts as both a fantastic entry point to officiating and as a platform for further progression. The Flag Officials qualification is targeted for flag football, the non-contact version of American football, and is designed to provide a great introduction to the most accessible version of the game. Both of the above awards were funded by Sport England.
The rest of the qualification structure is based around a more comprehensive induction to officiating the sport and the progressive development of the official.
Whilst the Associate Officials qualification is a tremendous first step to officiating contact football, many prospective officials prefer to move into the first phase of a training and development programme which consists of both on field and classroom learning. Mentors and senior officials will lead a step-by-step induction to enable new recruits to officiate. The Referees’ Association allocate new officials to games where an experienced official will mentor them. The mentorship programme typically lasts for ten games.
Elite Officials Programme
Once the official is firmly established then there is the opportunity to progress to the Elite Officials Programme which enables participants to reach the upper echelons of officiating and provides the platform for consideration of appointment to international fixtures and tournaments.
Diary
Officiating training takes place all year round.
The Referees’ Association offers prospective officials the opportunity to start their involvement in the game at any point during the year as football runs all year round. Once notified of the interest the Referees’ Association works to establish links between the interest persons and a local mentor who can oversee their development on the field whilst at the same time, they are provided with the necessary materials to support learning off it.
The Referees’ Association are currently planning the next rollout of Associate Officials and Flag Officials courses.
The next Elite Training day will be held on the 11th June at Kents Hill Training centre in Milton Keynes.
The Annual Refereeing Convention is a two-day event comprising of numerous workshops, seminars, lectures and practical sessions with key note speakers drawn from around the world. The Convention traditionally takes place in late March