Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
Advice For
Club Secretaries
Conduct at all times must be strictly in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of The Football Association and the Rules of the Wiltshire Football League.

As Secretary of your Club, you are responsible for all its business with the League.

In all cases, where a reply to correspondence is required, a stamped and addressed envelope should be enclosed.

In addition to the League Handbook, Club Secretaries should ensure that they possess or have on-line access to a copy of the current Handbook of the Wiltshire County Football Association.
Registrations
  • Ensure that Registration Forms are fully and properly completed ….. FULL names and addresses are required.
  • The Club Secretary must countersign each Registration Form.  No other signature will be accepted unless prior arrangement has been made with the Hon Registration Secretary … and then only in exceptional circumstances.
  • The Hon Registration Secretary must receive Registration Forms by no later than 12 noon on the day of match.  This will not be varied.
  • Please note that, in order to be eligible for the first match of the season, a player’s Registration Form, properly completed, must be received by the Hon Registration Secretary by no later than 3:00pm on the Wednesday prior to the first Saturday of the season.
  • Before registering a player, who is serving in any of HM Forces, ensure that you have complied with the appropriate Rule of The Football Association.
  • Only use Registration Forms supplied.  Forms can be obtained free of charge from the Hon Registration Secretary or downloaded from the web site.  Forms will only be posted to Clubs who provide an appropriately stamped and addressed envelope.
  • Transfer Forms are obtainable from the Hon Registration Secretary.  Again, please send a stamped, addressed envelope.  The Transfer Fee is £15 per player.  Please also refer to the relevant page in the Wiltshire County FA Handbook for a detailed explanation regarding Notice of Approach.
  • Registrations and Transfers close on 31st March.
Fixtures
  • Please check the availability of your ground prior to the start of the season ….. especially Clubs who share with Cricket Clubs, etc.  Please inform the Fixture Secretary immediately if your ground is unavailable.  Don’t wait for publication of the fixture lists.
  • The fixtures given to you at the Annual General Meeting are pilot fixtures only.  Fixtures are published on a monthly basis on The FA Full-Time web site.  However, alterations are often made to these in order to maximise the weekly fixture list.  If your monthly fixtures are changed, you will usually be notified (via telephone or e-mail) on the Sunday or Monday ….. but the League does have the right to make fixtures later in the week.
  • If you require a postponement (eg: for a wedding, etc), contact the Hon Fixture Secretary and give him at least 4 weeks notice.
  • If you have a match postponed (for any reason), the Club postponing the fixture must contact the Hon Fixture Secretary without delay and then confirm it in writing, on the official Postponement Form provided.  The Postponement Form must reach the Hon Fixture Secretary within 3 days of the postponement.  Please note that the Postponement Form also acts as a charge sheet and the Discipline Sub-Committee will decide whether the reason is acceptable and whether any disciplinary action will follow.
Referees
  • Referees are allocated to fixtures and are published on The FA Full-Time web site.The home Club must contact both the Referee and Assistant Referees at least 48 hours prior to the match to confirm the fixture, ground location, kick-off time, etc.  If there is a change to the allocated Match Official(s), the web site will be updated accordingly.  Please contact the Hon Referees’ Appointments Secretary in case of any queries.
  • Referees have to report to the ground 60 minutes prior to kick-off and a representative of the home Club must be there to meet them, show them to their changing rooms, etc.
  • Please ensure that the Match Officials’ changing rooms are clean and tidy (not cluttered up with line marking equipment, etc).
  • Please provide the Match Officials with refreshments at both half time and full-time.
  • Remember to indicate how much you paid the Referee and Assistant Referees on the bottom of the Result Sheet.  Expenses are pooled at the end of the season.
GUIDE TO THE MARKING OF REFEREES

The mark awarded by a Club, must be based on the Referee’s overall performance.  It is most important that the mark is awarded fairly and not based on isolated incidents or previous games.  The Referee’s performance should be determined by the table below, which should act as a guide for the overall mark, which should fall within the mark range for each standard of performance.

Mark Range and Comment
91 - 100   
The Referee was extremely accurate in decision-making and very successfully controlled the game using management and communication skills to create an environment of fair play, adding real value to the game.

81 - 90   
The Referee was very accurate in decision-making and successfully controlled the game using management and communication skills to create an environment of fair play.

71 - 80   
The Referee was accurate in decision-making and controlled the game well, communicating with the players and making a positive contribution towards fair play.

61 - 70   
The Referee was reasonably accurate in decision making, controlled the game quite well and communicated with the players, establishing a reasonable degree of fair play.

51 - 60   
The Referee had some shortcomings in the level of accuracy of decision-making and control, with only limited success in communicating with players, resulting in variable fair play.

50 and below   
The Referee had significant shortcomings in the level of accuracy of decision-making and control and poor communication with players, which resulted in low levels of fair play.

Notes

  • Using a scale of up to 100 allows greater flexibility for Clubs to distinguish between different refereeing performances more accurately.
  • A mark within each Mark Range can be given to reflect the Referee’s performance, eg: a mark of 79 indicates a somewhat better performance than a mark of 71.
  • A mark between 71 and 80 represents the standard of refereeing expected.
  • When a mark of 50 or less is awarded, an explanation must be provided to the League by completing the appropriate box on the Report Form.  The explanation must include comments, which could help improve the Referee’s future performances.  Even where a Referee has significant shortcomings, there will have been some positive aspects, which should be given credit.  Extremely low marks (below 20) should be very rare.

HOW TO DECIDE ON THE REFEREE’S MARK

The following questions focus on the key areas of a Referee’s performance.  They are intended as an “aide memoire, are not necessarily comprehensive and need not be answered individually.  It is however worth considering them before committing yourself to a mark for the Referee.

Control and Decision Making
  • How well did the Referee control the game?
  • Were the players’ actions recognised correctly?
  • Were the Laws of the Game applied correctly?
  • Were all incidents dealt with efficiently/effectively?
  • Were all the appropriate sanctions applied correctly?
  • Was the Referee always within reasonable distance of incidents?
  • Was the Referee well positioned to make critical decisions, especially in and around the penalty area?
  • Did the Referee understand the players’ positional intentions and keep out of the way accordingly?
  • Did the Referee demonstrate alertness and concentration throughout the game?
  • Did the Referee apply the use of the advantage to suit the mood and temperature of the game?
  • Was the Referee aware of the players’ attitude to advantage?
  • Did the Referee use the Assistants effectively?
  • Did the Officials work as a team and did the Referee lead and manage them to the benefit of the game?

Communication and Player Management
  • How well did the Referee communicate with the players during the game?
  • Did the Referee’s level of involvement/profile suit this particular game?
  • Did the Referee understand the players’ problems on the day - eg: difficult ground/weather conditions?
  • Did the Referee respond to the changing pattern of play/mood of players?
  • Did the Referee demonstrate empathy for the game, allowing it to develop in accordance with the tempo of the game?
  • Was the Referee pro-active in controlling the game?
  • Was the Referee’s authority asserted firmly without being too officious?
  • Was the Referee confident and quick thinking?
  • Did the Referee appear unflustered and unhurried when making critical decisions?
  • Did the Referee permit undue questioning of decisions?
  • Did the Referee deal effectively with players crowding around after decisions/incidents?
  • Was effective player management in evidence?
  • Did the pace of the game, the crowd or player pressure affect the Referee negatively?

Final Thoughts
  • Always try to be objective when marking.  You may not have the most objective view by marking immediately after the game.
  • Judge the Referee’s performance over the whole game.  Don’t be too influenced by one particular incident.
  • Don’t mark the Referee down unfairly because your team was unlucky and lost the game; or because some disciplinary action was taken against your players.
Match Days
  • A representative of the home Club must be at the ground 60 minutes prior to kick-off to greet Match Officials.
  • Team Sheets must be exchanged with both the Referee and your opponents 45 minutes prior to kick-off.  Please note that shirt numbers worn by players must correspond with numbers shown on the Team Sheets.
  • Substitutes: A player who leaves the field of play, for any reason, must not take part in another match until that in which he commenced is concluded.
  • Pay the Match Officials their fee and expenses after the match.
  • Alcohol must only be consumed in a Club House.  It is the responsibility of all Clubs to ensure that spectators do not consume alcohol adjacent to pitches before and during play.
Results
  • Within 30 minutes of the conclusion of the game, both Clubs must send the result of the match, via text message, to The FA Full-Time web site.  Results of all matches played in any Competitions outside of this League, eg: County Cup Competitions, even if you are the away team, must be telephoned in to the Hon Results Secretary (07979 204612) within 30 minutes of the conclusion of a match.
  • Result Sheets must be sent to the Hon Registration Secretary and received by him within 3 days of the match (postmark will be noted).  Please write the full namesof all players.  Home Clubs must include the amounts paid to Match Officials.  There are separate Result Sheets for Cup-ties.
  • There are separate sheets for the marking of Referees.
General Items

Insurance
  • All Member Clubs must belong to an Injured Players Insurance scheme.  Clubs shall produce a copy of their Insurance Certificate to the Hon General Secretary of the League, before the commencement of each playing season.  All Clubs are warned that should a fixture be postponed due to non-compliance with this League Rule, the Club concerned will be held responsible for the postponement.
First Aiders
  • All Clubs in membership of the League must have a qualified First Aider in attendance at all matches.  The name of the designated First Aider must be included on the Club Details form and submitted to the Hon General Secretary by 1st July.
Finance
  • All League fees must be paid by 1st August.
  • If you do receive a fine, please pay it promptly.  Failure to do so will result in additional fines being imposed and could result in your Club being suspended.
Cups
  • Draws for the KO Cup Competitions will be circulated throughout the season.  The Hon Fixture Secretary will arrange Cup-ties to suit fixture lists.  There is no “Cup weekend”.  If a Cup-tie is postponed, the Hon Fixture Secretary will rearrange it ….. it is not automatically rearranged for the following weekend.
Times For Kick-off In League Matches
In the Premier Division, kick-off times will be 3:00pm during August, September, October, March, April and May and  2:00pm during November, December, January and February or as shown on the Fixture List. Clubs with floodlights may wish to kick-off at 3:00pm during the Winter months but must notifiy the Fixture Secretary of their intention to do so.

All games in the two Women's Divisions will kick-off at 2:00pm on a Sunday throughout the season.

Clubs may mutually agree to earlier kick-off times; in which case the Home Club will be responsible for notifying the Hon Fixture Secretary and the appointed Match Officials.

During August, September and April, evening kick-offs will be 6:30pm or earlier if mutually agreed, unless played under floodlights; in which case the Home Club will be responsible for notifying the Hon Fixture Secretary and the appointed Match Officials of the kick-off time which will be taken as 7:45pm unless advised otherwise.

In the U.18 Youth Floodlight Division, kick-off times will be 7:45pm or as shown on the Fixture List.
Cancelled and Postponed Games - Claims For Expenses
All Clubs are asked to take special note that the procedure, for making a claim for expenses, will be as follows:

(i)    The claimants shall write to the defaulting Club within seven days of the date of the cancelled fixture (excluding Sunday), giving full details of the expenses being claimed.  A copy of such letter to be sent to the Hon General Secretary.

(ii)    The defaulting Club shall, within seven days of receiving such claim, reply to the claim by:

(a)    enclosing a cheque or postal order in full settlement of the claim
or
(b)    declaring that the claim is in dispute

A copy of this reply is to be sent to the Hon General Secretary.

(iii)    Where the claim is disputed, the claimant shall send to the Hon General Secretary the receipts (or copies of receipts) for those expenses which are being claimed.

(iv)    The League Management Committee shall consider all the available facts and evidence and make their judgment subject to League Rule 16.

Clubs are asked to accept this procedure as being a more detailed interpretation of League Rule 10(F).  Any further guidance thought to be necessary should be obtained from the Hon General Secretary.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUERIES OR NEED ADVICE ON ANY MATTER,
PLEASE CONTACT A LEAGUE OFFICER
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