Quote from: Villadawg on October 01, 2010, 04:52:08 PMStuart Attwell refereed his first professional match in 2007/8. He was given one of the play-off finals that season and started refereeing PL the following season. He hasn't served a 15 year apprenticeship.He was around in The Conference and slightly lower non-league levels in 2002, I have a programme from Tamworth v Chelmsford in 2002 and he's the ref, (sorry to be an anorak but I was tidying up my collection yesterday and noticed his name!), it says in the programme that he had refereed Conference matches.So maybe not 15 years but he's come up through the ranks.He does seem to have been fast-tracked though, maybe it is a case of him knowing all the laws of the game but not having quite enough experience to apply common sense all the time?
Stuart Attwell refereed his first professional match in 2007/8. He was given one of the play-off finals that season and started refereeing PL the following season. He hasn't served a 15 year apprenticeship.
Quote from: Dave Cooper on October 01, 2010, 05:47:14 PMQuote from: Villadawg on October 01, 2010, 04:52:08 PMStuart Attwell refereed his first professional match in 2007/8. He was given one of the play-off finals that season and started refereeing PL the following season. He hasn't served a 15 year apprenticeship.He was around in The Conference and slightly lower non-league levels in 2002, I have a programme from Tamworth v Chelmsford in 2002 and he's the ref, (sorry to be an anorak but I was tidying up my collection yesterday and noticed his name!), it says in the programme that he had refereed Conference matches.So maybe not 15 years but he's come up through the ranks.He does seem to have been fast-tracked though, maybe it is a case of him knowing all the laws of the game but not having quite enough experience to apply common sense all the time?All refs start off doing the local parks games, then they progress up the ladder. First its as an A/R on local supply league, then when promoted to level 5, they can take the level 4 fitness test, which allows them to be level 4.Level 4 ref local supply league & A/R on the contrib league( Conf south/nth, ryman, southern, northern etc)Then if marks at supply league level are gd enough, promoted to level 3. these marks are a combination of club and assesor marks. Both must be in the top bracket. level 3 is dependant on passing a stricter fitness test.Level 3 ref contrib league and run the line on the panel (conf national, prem reserve, football comabination)Their marks at level 2 will then get them promoted to football league line, and if good enough level 2 which is panel middle.Then if good enough, promoted to football league middle, then if gd enough at FL finally promoted to prem middle (elite list).To get that far, requires a lot of dedication, onceat level 4 you are dealing with semi-pro football.I know guys who are football league line, who have to train/ do a warm down on a sunday etc. They have heart monitors and have to send the info to the FL to show they are training properly.To get to Prem middle, you are looking at working your way up the different leagues, which is prob about 8/10 yrs.
Yes, we all know about the ghost goal and all of the other bad decisions that every referee makes and which TV will point out time and again whilst not bothering to ever point out all the good decisions or highlighting the mistakes made by players to anywhere near the same extent.
Quote from: davevillan on October 01, 2010, 06:17:14 PMQuote from: Dave Cooper on October 01, 2010, 05:47:14 PMQuote from: Villadawg on October 01, 2010, 04:52:08 PMStuart Attwell refereed his first professional match in 2007/8. He was given one of the play-off finals that season and started refereeing PL the following season. He hasn't served a 15 year apprenticeship.He was around in The Conference and slightly lower non-league levels in 2002, I have a programme from Tamworth v Chelmsford in 2002 and he's the ref, (sorry to be an anorak but I was tidying up my collection yesterday and noticed his name!), it says in the programme that he had refereed Conference matches.So maybe not 15 years but he's come up through the ranks.He does seem to have been fast-tracked though, maybe it is a case of him knowing all the laws of the game but not having quite enough experience to apply common sense all the time?All refs start off doing the local parks games, then they progress up the ladder. First its as an A/R on local supply league, then when promoted to level 5, they can take the level 4 fitness test, which allows them to be level 4.Level 4 ref local supply league & A/R on the contrib league( Conf south/nth, ryman, southern, northern etc)Then if marks at supply league level are gd enough, promoted to level 3. these marks are a combination of club and assesor marks. Both must be in the top bracket. level 3 is dependant on passing a stricter fitness test.Level 3 ref contrib league and run the line on the panel (conf national, prem reserve, football comabination)Their marks at level 2 will then get them promoted to football league line, and if good enough level 2 which is panel middle.Then if good enough, promoted to football league middle, then if gd enough at FL finally promoted to prem middle (elite list).To get that far, requires a lot of dedication, onceat level 4 you are dealing with semi-pro football.I know guys who are football league line, who have to train/ do a warm down on a sunday etc. They have heart monitors and have to send the info to the FL to show they are training properly.To get to Prem middle, you are looking at working your way up the different leagues, which is prob about 8/10 yrs.So how did Stuart Attwell go from never having ref'd a league game to the FIFA international list in 12 months and less than 40 games?