District Referee Coordinator
2009 Annual Report
The Scarborough Referees’ Association continues to work in harmony with the District by providing education classes and other related referees’ activities in Scarborough for the benefit of all referees
We encountered two major problems in 2009. The OSA Waiver and the garbage strike, both of these came with unique problems that affected Referees and the game. Referees were told not to sign this waiver by the OSRA because it takes all or most of the referees’ protection and will put the referees at great financial risk. After months of aggravation the OSRA has now made the statement, that the waiver turns out to be not harmful to referees and only needed minor word changes
The Garbage strike forced the cancellation of games due to the closure of all public parks. The communication used to advise clubs and referees were very contradicting which caused show and no show of teams and referees on soccer fields that were closed making life difficult for teams and referees
During the year 2009 the following activities were planned for Referees in the District of Scarborough.
General Education January to April 2009
Twelve general educational sessions were planned and completed for all Referees. Our education sessions are designed to discuss problems referees encountered during the outdoor season, all law changes and any other referees related matters that need clarification.
The District sponsored a special workshop for referees who showed a desire to improve their skills and knowledge. This workshop was conducted in both theory and practical, and the use of video material. This workshop was based on Law 5 the Referee and Law 6 the Assistant Referees
Changes continues in the game of soccer which requires referees to refresh and up date their knowledge of the laws of the game as directed by FIFA and have been handed down by the Canadian Soccer Association and in turn made mandatory by Ontario Soccer Association. Only by attending planned education sessions will referees be able to be aware of these changes and apply them correctly in games
Fitness May 2009:
Scarborough held one fitness test for referees in and around Scarborough at Birchmount Stadium. A total of 36 referees attended this fitness test
Mini and Entry Level Clinics
A total of four Clinics were held in Scarborough this year, two Mini and two Entry Level, certifying 96 new referees for use in the various House Leagues in the District of Scarborough.
Scardeso Soccer League:
This is the 4th year of operation for the Scardeso League
All referees used in this league, came directly from new entry level referees. These referees received mentoring through the season, and have shown improvement on their individual performances. However, this is not to say that the season was trouble free. Clubs should be aware that referees used in Scardeso is also for development purposes
Mini Robbie Tournament:
Entry Level and young District referees continue to be the primary pool of referees used for this tournament. Thanks to those Clubs that supported this tournament by supplying referees.
Robbie International Tournament
This tournament continues enjoy the benefit of referees from across Ontario. Referees are publicly recongised as the oldest and largest sponsor of the Robbie, this type of acknowledgement is indeed greatly appreciated by the referees
Ontario Cup
All Ontario Cup games were fully covered in the District of Scarborough. We had 6 youth divisions hosted in Scarborough. This provided the opportunity to use our up and coming youth referee and at the same time provide mentorship to them. This year the Semi Finals were hosted in Scarborough. The District was asked to provide 4th officials to all games using only prospective young referees
Albert Campbell
The Albert Campbell marks the closing of the out door season. This tournament caters to the House League teams ranging from 8 to 18 years of age. Unfortunately this year, The Albert Campbell encountered reduction of teams in various age groups and as a result many age groups were dropped from the program
Mentoring:
Scarborough is now reaping the benefits of the mentoring program. In 2007 three referees were upgraded, 2008 five referees were upgraded and in 2009 10 referees ( 8 Regional and two Provincial) are awaiting their final results. This is the largest amount of referees from Scarborough ever to take an upgrading program in one year
2009 followed the same downward trend as previous years with regards to the amount of competitive games available in Scarborough. For the past 6 years Scarborough has been experiencing a reduction in games and have been developing referees on a yearly basis, as a result of these two developments, we find it extremely difficult to occupy all of our referees during the outdoor season, not to mentioned only a few can be occupied in the Indoor Season
A study was done on the OWSL. The result of this is shown on the graph below
The CESL, CSL and CGSL have also shown a decline in games
Respectfully
Leslie Wong
Leslie Wong
DRC-Scarborough
18/11/2009