Question Number: 21008

League Specific 3/21/2009

RE: Adult

Fergus Kelly of Liverpool, England asks...

Can a registered referee be an affiliated member of a league organisation and can this referee in his role appoint other referees for games within that league?

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

That is a matter of the FA league and association and charter to which you play under!
Percieved conflict of interest is something as a referee, coach, parent and player I am well aware of. Been accused of it even as I deny ever doing so. Most associations with a decent charter and set of by laws have those concepts worked out. There are often well intentioned people who do more than their fair share trying to make the matches possible. People will often see what they think reguardless of how pure a motive might be.
Those that scheme away their integrity place little importance on what others think simply because their needs are corrupt.
Those that do care what others think and do their best can still be percieved as corrupt even if they are not!
Cheers

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Sure he can if the charter for that league or association provides for it and I see nothing inherently wrong with this. Say a Board member is also a certified referee and assignor. Why should he or she not be allowed to be the referee assignor? Or for that matter assign games to himself? 99.99% of all referees have a high level of integrity and would do whatever necessary to avoid obvious conflicts of interest.