Stephen won’t blow time on reffing career

Stephen started by refereeing at kids grassroots football and has officiated in various youth leagues across the West Midlands, including the Wolverhampton Amateur League.

Now refereeing in the West Midlands Christian Football League, he shows no sign of stopping.

“There’s still life in the old dog yet”, he said.

Receiving his long service award for 40 years service this week from the Staffordshire FA, Stephen was delighted with the award.

“I love it, I don’t do it for the money as there would be no point at this level, I just enjoy what I do. I’m actually into my 42nd year of refereeing now but these things take time to go through. It was a very nice surprise and overall it’s just nice to have a thank you”, he said.

Stephen’s love for football started on the other end of the whistle, as a player. He played for a number of teams, from work teams to pub teams and only turned to refereeing after a friend told him about the course, he said:

“I thought it sounded fun, I ended up refereeing Saturday afternoon and playing Sunday morning. I turned from a player ‘effing and jeffing’ like anyone, into a peacemaker.

“I then got married and had to make commitments, I couldn’t carry on with my whole weekend being filled with playing and officiating. So I decided to give up playing. I probably had eight or nine years of playing left in me but there was more longevity in refereeing and I chose to carry that on going forward”.

After over 40 years of experience, there are few better people to ask about the current state of modern refereeing than Stephen, he’s calling for the youngsters to step up, he said:

“We don’t have enough young ref’s coming forward, it’s a poor state of affairs really, we need more young blood. The FA tries their best to improve respect for officials but in reality it hasn’t really changed and that puts a lot of young people off coming into refereeing.

“I feel sorry for the ref’s on TV, every nook and cranny is analysed in lots of different angles, it’s a very difficult job”.

This season, the FA released new laws imposing bans and fines for any players verbally or physically abusing a match official at grassroots level. Stephen is very vocal about the support he received as a newcomer from the FA.

“They really help with development and checking in on you when you’re new, and the Wolverhampton Referee’s Association has always supported me. We just need to encourage young refs that can keep up with the fast-paced game, to join”, he added.

Recently, video assistant referees have been introduced into the English game, and Stephen was keen on the new technology, but understands the referees need to use it wisely, he added:

“I think VAR has not slowed down or held up the play and it should be used. Ref’s should carry on giving the decision as they see it and allow VAR to do its job.

“Football is a fast moving game and my only concern is that teams might put pressure on officials to look at VAR for decisions as a time wasting tactic, just something to think about going forward.

Stephen has thoroughly enjoyed these years as a football official, but he did hint on a slight regret, “I would have liked to go further into higher levels but it’s difficult to do”, he said. Despite the difficulty in climbing the rankings, Stephen has been a great servant to grassroots football that has started the careers of many of our modern stars, and so may it continue.