Football Referees

[patrickstar]

Are football referees in youth leagues allowed to be related to players or coaches for either team? Thanks

[ChillDoubt]

Talking to one of the other Dad's(his son plays football as well as rugby) at my sons rugby training just the other night and he said that apparently they have a problem getting referee's for that very reason.
Our rugby matches are different, I officiate at all my sons home matches.

[ELVIS68]

Don't know about referees but anyone is allowed to be a linesman, every Sunday at my sons matches there's always arguments about dodgy offside decisions made by linesman connected to each team

[Buenchico]

Football referees have to declare any connection to a particular team to the County FA when they register each year. However such a declaration doesn't necessarily prevent them from being appointed to officiate in any particular match. (It's entirely at the discretion of the Referees' Secretary for the relevant league or competition).

[factor-fiction]

Yes. It happens a lot in local junior football. When I was a referee a few years ago there was a rule in the local leagues- I think it was an FA rule- that if the official referee didn't turn up or the league had no referee available, the the officials of the clubs involved in the game had to agree on a referee between them. Sometimes each manager took half the game, although that probably wasn't really allowed as I think it's supposed to be the same ref throughout for consistency