Football Federation Australia (FFA) this week launched a new three year Refereeing Strategic Plan to assist in the development, retention and education of referees nationally.

Australia has always had a rich history of first class national, international and World cup referees.  Names such as Eddie Lennie, Simon Micaleff, Chris Bambridge and Tammy Ogston to name but a few.

Other former top referees work tirelessly as coaches and instructors for little or no financial compensation to ensure that referees are identified, trained and developed from grass roots all the way to the Hyundai A-league and beyond. There are hundreds of other names across the country too numerous to name individually.

This week heralds a new era in the development and management of referees in Australia when FFA released a three year Refereeing Strategic Plan. 

Recently the FFA announced that a new referees committee was established to look at the structure of refereeing in this country. As a result a new strategic three year plan has been created.

The plan is aimed in four key areas:

•          Unifying a development and management system of referees in each of the states across the country
•          Nationally co-ordinating development and education programs, through a nationally implemented curriculum
•          Creating a larger pool of talented officials to supply our elite competitions
•          Creating further opportunities to enhance the experience of our international referees

FFA’s Director of Referees Mark Shield believes that this is an important step in the right direction to develop, train and promote top referees. 

“We now have a strategic plan coupled with the creation of a national talent identification program that will deliver top flight referees to our top competitions for many years to come,” said Shield.

“The FFA is strongly committed to developing a world class refereeing program and this is the first step of many to facilitate this development.”

To know more about the future of Australian referees read FFA Director of Referees column HERE and get access to the Strategic Plan.

Mark Shield is currently at AFC coaching conferences in Kuala Lumpur.