I hope you are keeping well. Let me start by expressing my thanks to each and every one of you for being transparent with your communications, all season, regarding SDFL referees. Your feedback has really helped with operating the buddy scheme, to address any concerns, and has helped the referees in their training for promotion. I hope we can keep this line of communication open for next season, please?

The County FA has warned all local leagues to be on their guard after a bogus official is making himself known to clubs. As many of you are aware, last season, there was a gentleman by the name of CARL POTTER/RAYMOND who was posing as a referee and attempting to get appointed to fixtures. This person is once again trying to get appointments to referee local games in Swindon. I can confirm CARL POTTER/RAYMOND is not a qualified referee nor does he have any affiliation to the FA, meaning he doesn’t have any qualifications, or safeguarding checks in place. I would urge all Secretary’s to remind their Team Managers that referees appointments are not to be taken lightly, if they are indeed contacted out of the blue, by people purporting to be qualified to take their matches.

At the end of last season your pool of referees found themselves refereeing most weekends out of season. This will also be the case again at the end of this season, as we want to play our part in the sport we all love, and seeing it played all year round in a fair, safe and enjoyable environment.