October 2005

January 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Best wishes from all in the Association to you and your family for 2006.

Tennent’s Scottish Cup Third Round

Congratulations to the following Fife members on their appointments :-

Kevin Toner Referee - Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Ayr United tie.

Willie Conquer Assistant referee - Spartans v Queens Parks tie.

Brian McDuffie, Stuart Macaulay Assistant Referees Dundee United v Aberdeen

Colin Brown Fourth Official - Rangers v Peterhead

Apologies to Andrew Aird who was appointed to the Second round tie Alloa Athletic v Montrose but this was missed from the last Newsletter.

OVD Scottish Junior Cup:Congratulations to the following members who have been appointed to ties in the Fourth Round which are to be placed on 14th January.

Tayport v. Renfrew – Craig Marshall

Harthill Royal v. Bonnyrigg Rose – Steven Crichton

January Members Monthly Meeting:The January Members Monthly Meeting will be held at on Thursday January at 7.30pm in KirkcaldyHigh School. Please note that Council are currently considering a new venue in Kirkcaldy for the February meting. More details will be provided in the February mailing.

Indoor Training:This continues at BuckhavenHigh School on Tuesday evenings at 7pm. Those actually attending 75%+ of indoor training will receive kit for training from the Development Fund.

Additional Training:This will commence on Thursday 19th January at AdamSmithCollege, Carlyle Road, Kirkcaldy. The session will run from 6 – 7pm. If you are interested in participating then please contact Colin Brown.

Report Writing Seminar:Council are considering holding a report writing seminar on a midweek evening in January / February. Further details will be provided shortly.

Re-allocation:If you are available and are looking for a game on a Saturday or Sunday then please contact Kay Rogerson with your availability. There have been a number of Saturdays this year when Amateur games have been postponed due to a lack of referees so the chances are that if you put your name down then you will get a game.

60th Anniversary Dinner:This will take place on Saturday 25th March 2006 at PettycurBay, Kinghorn. Willie Y oung will be one of the speakers and further details will be provided at the Members Monthly Meeting.Christmas Meal after Training

36 referees turned up and a good night was had by all. Kevin Martin won the name the ref competition and Hugh McHendry was awarded his prize for winning the caption competition. 1st prize in the raffle went to Walter Barr who picked the wrong prize bag and won a bottle of washing up liquid. Some of the other raffle winners were Hugh McHendry, Chris Shay and John Rowbotham.

RefereeDevelopmentAcademySunday 27th November 2005:National Stadium – HampdenPark , Glasgow.

Fife referees are fortunate to currently have 5 members of the SFARefereeAcademy. The academy is an elite group of around 60 up and coming referees who have been identified by association managers as showing real commitment and potential to progress in time to the top level of refereeing in Scotland.

The SFA demand that members of Academy show continued commitment to local associations and more importantly demonstrate excellent levels of physical fitness. As has already been demonstrated in recent past, those who do not meet the current fitness criteria are removed from academy.

The recent meeting of academy focussed on discussion groups headed by experienced referees, referee observers and association managers such as Craig Thomson, Calum Murray, Allan Cunningham, Martin Cryans, John Fleming, Mike Delaney and SFA fitness advisor John McQuade. Topics such as the role of assistant referee, handball offences, use of advantage and physical fitness and healthy eating were discussed.

Donald McVicar, Head of Referee Development closed the academy by thanking all referees for attending. He also reminded members of their responsibility to improve fitness standards and advised that academy members at next meeting will be first officials in Scotland to officially sit new FIFA Fitness Test.

Category 1 Meeting:All Category 1 Referees will be spending the first weekend of the new year meeting at Airth Castle Hotel. Fife will be represented by all 3 of its Category 1 officials and details of what happens will appear in next months newsletter.

Invitation to Disciplinary Meetings:Members are reminded that if, following the submission of reports for a match in which they officiated, they are invited to attend a Disciplinary Meeting then they are entitled to take a colleague with them. Your first contact in this instance should be the Minor Grade Football Liaison Officer Jim Ross.

Email Addresses:Council are concerned that a number of members now have email addresses which they consider to be inappropriate (e.g. indicating support for a particular football team) Members who this applies to are asked to reconsider their email addresses as those deemed inappropriate by Council will not be included in the Members Handbook.

Newsletter:This is your Newsletter and it needs to report your news. If you do something as a referee or get a national appointment then please let the Association know. If something significant happens to you share this with your colleagues.

Thanks to Colin Brown, Douglas Potter and Raymond Whyte for their contributions to this month’s Newsletter