It’s a hobby, not a job!

I started refereeing in the Wakefield and District League on a Saturday aged 16. I turned up to games via mum and dads taxi and collected the wholesome sum of £13. The additional £3 expenses were often met with a “Bloody hell where you come from, London?” 

I can honestly say I never once returned home at any stage during my progression through the refereeing pyramid at any level thinking I deserved to earn more than I picked up that day. More would have been nice, of course it would, but I never took to any platform to claim that I was underpaid. Oh how times change!!

Recently on social media I have been bemused by the sudden value that referees place on themselves at different levels of the game. Ultimately what we do is a hobby, a good fun way of staying fit and being involved in the game we love. That hobby does provide a service though and rightly so referees are paid for that service. It’s a service that lasts for somewhere between 90-100 minutes barring the odd rare extra time and a sum of anywhere between £25-40 at grassroots level is paid. For an enjoyable service doing something we enjoy that isn’t a bad little sum, especially for younger referees. 

However...it appears that for some this simply isn’t enough. Brushing aside the fact that referees are the only people within the grassroots game who actually take a fee, I have read with dismay that some referees now want a bigger slice of the pie. This saddens me. On the one hand I read about this being a ‘job’ which puts referees out of their houses for the full day for a pittance. It isn't a job. Granted unless the game is staged in the referees back garden then this will entail some element of travel, something that in the majority of leagues is covered at a much higher recompense than the cost of the fuel going into the car to get you there. In that sense the referee is in pocket. Referees to my knowledge have never had a home ground as such and so it seems to me confusing that some referees feel aggrieved at every match day being an away one. 

I have seen officials in the semi professional game complaining that they are out all day and collecting only £50 for that. Yeah I accept that if you consider time away from the family then it is a big commitment, however those officials at that level aren’t new to refereeing. They absolutely understood that level of commitment before they reached that level of football and so it should come as zero surprise to them. There is the option of not officiating at that level and simply staying in the grassroots game where you can pick up not much less and be home in time to bath the kids and watch the 6 o’clock news. To enjoy the prestige of officiating in the semi professional game and then complaining because you should be paid much more seems very wrong to me. The argument that players get more is a non starter as well. They are paid because those paying in to watch a game of football are paying to watch THEM. The same argument that Premier League referees are not paid £100,000 a week like the players!! 

I have seen arguments that fees should be higher because the referee course is now £150. I accept that when I took the course it was £15 but this is a one off fee and an amount that can easily be recovered in 6 games. It is worth noting that the fee for the Level 1 coaching course is a similar cost and coaches after paying out are not paid a penny with this qualification. The argument falls down at this point. 

“I need to buy kit” is another reason refs should be paid more. Well again very rarely have I ever torn my kit in a sliding tackle nor had it ripped off my back in an aerial duel and so the kit is usually good for a season or so. That’s around £60 for the kit and a pair of boots at anywhere you want them to be from £35 to £150 if you want the same as the star striker. A whistle is a durable little thing (I’ve had my trusty Fox40 Classic for around 8-9 years now) as are little yellow and red pieces of plastic and this hardly breaks the bank!!

Society fees are around £25 a year, registration fee around £20-£25 a year...I even heard that kit washing is something that means a ref should be paid higher!! I’d challenge those same referees who refer to what they do as a ‘job’ to go to their actual job on Monday morning, head to their employer and ask for a raise based on the fact they have to wash their clothes to go to work. I can’t see that being the longest of conversations. 

Granted, kits need to be washed, as do boots. ‘Paperwork’ now takes a few minutes at most as everything is online. I used to have to physically write out every red and yellow card with a full description...TWICE!! Now it’s an online box tick. Hardly a back breaker. 

The main point of this is that I am getting tired of reading about how we referees should be paid much more to do something we love to do. It isn’t a job for 99% of people, it is a hobby that you are paid to do. If you got into refereeing at grassroots football to make your fortune then I’m afraid you were sorely mistaken. Again comes the arrogant perception when the only people who are actually paid in the game are taking to social media wanting more. I even heard one referee state “...and all of this we have to do during the winter!” Well two things...one, so do the coaches and players for nothing, and two, you don’t have to at all! Nobody forces you out of the door, we do it because we want to do it. We do it because we love football. Yes there are times that referees are abused and that is never ever acceptable but getting paid £5 or £10 extra wouldn’t make that any more palatable or easier to accept would it?? Surely we aren’t saying that we deserve an extra tenner if they’re going to shout at us?

This is not a dig at the vast majority of referees. Most of them go out week in week out in poor conditions, on poor pitches, get changed in poor changing rooms and do what they love to do without ever complaining that the match fee won’t cover that months mortgage. I cannot tell you enough how much respect I have for the majority of the referee workforce in English grassroots football. Men, women, boys and girls who give up their time for a non life changing sum of money who attempt to make sure that games are controlled fairly and safely, I take my hat off to every single one of you. Continue to do what you love. Continue to recognise that it is a hobby and not a job. You are not employed, you don’t pay tax or NI, you do it because you love it!! 

To those referees who thought they were in it to make a fortune, you’ve been conned I’m afraid. But please remember that you are more than likely the only person on the day taking home a penny. Only you have your petrol covered to get to that game. Only you will have some money towards the washing of your kit. Remember why you took that course!! If you were asked in a room of referees then I always hear the same thing... “I wanted to give something back”. Only on the safety of social media or within referees groups on Facebook do I seem to hear the banging of the “pay is more” drum. I’ve said before and I will continue to say it - referees are a very important cog in the football machine. We are not the most important though and the sooner we realise that and come down from the high horse screaming “I should be paid so much more” the less arrogant we appear and the more respect we may gain as a result. Humility is a great quality to have, it would serve some well.