REFS: Inspiring the next generation of sport officials in Europe

Funder

European Commission/Erasmus Plus 

Project team

Dr Tom Webb

Total Value

Collaborators

Duration 

Project overview

• improving the image and perception of officiating among children (Indicative age group 8 – 13)
• Attracting/recruiting young people to officiating roles (Indicative age group 14 – 20)
• Retaining young officials (Indicative age group 14 – 20)

Project objectives

• Building capacity of sport organisations responsible for sport officiating to work transnationally
  
• Addressing a common need and priority in sport to recruit and retain enough sport officials for sport competitions to continue and flourish
  
• Enabling transformation and change at the individual level by exposing more young people to the benefits of officiating, and at sectoral level through the production of guidelines and tools to engage more young people in officiating roles.

Impact statement

• At the individual level REFS will seek to attract young people to the role of official with all of the benefits this can bring to individuals – e.g. skills development, assimilation of positive values, sense of belonging etc.
  
• At the organisational level REFS will seek to improve the pipeline and flow of officials into the sporting system, to be trained through the officiating qualifications provided by sport federations. This will be of benefit to clubs, leagues, national and international federations as well as athletes and players across Europe.
• At the systemic/ sector wide level, first REFS will aim to improve the image and perception of sport officials among children, which will be of benefit to the whole sector by increasing respect for officials. REFS will also help with the recruitment of the next generation of sport officials, thus helping to ensure the continued proper functioning of sport competitions across the whole of Europe from grassroots to elite level.