Soccer Referees Required

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28257, 20 April 1957, Page 5

Soccer Referees Required

The great increase in the number of players under the control of the Canterbury Football Association brings new problems for officials, and especially for the Referees' Association, which will have to provide more qualified men to control matches. These men, who willingly give their services to the game every Saturday throughout the winter, have to attain a high standard of physical and mental fitness. Indeed, some former players who are controlling matches consider that they are now fitter than they were during their playing days.

However, the shortage of referees is a serious handicap to the proper development of soccer in Canterbury. There must be a large number of former players, who have derived benefit from the game and who should be prepared to put something back into the game by taking a turn with the whistle.

The position can be eased only if players in the higher grades give an hour of their time on Saturday mornings to referee boys’ matches. Many of the junior players are thrilled to have their matches controlled by well-known senior players. Canterbury has more active New Zealand Badge holders than any other province in the country. This is a tribute to the standard of the men who control the game in this province. The proposed secondary schools competition will increase the burden upon these men, and it is to be hoped that many more former players will offer their services as a part of this worthwhile development of the game in Canterbury.