(left to right: Billy Khatib, David Webb and Geoff Eltringham)

Sunderland society was finally pleased to welcome David Webb to Rutland Street , two months later than planned.

Our society was also pleased to welcome along members of the Sunderland AFC veterans supporters club to our meeting who were joined by a healthy number of our own members.

David has made an excellent start to his first year as a football league referee having served one year on the list as a football league assistant.

Located in Stanley County Durham David started refereeing just over 10 years ago , officiating regular in the Consett Sunday league along with running the line in the Wearside league , it didn't take long for the refereeing bug to start to bite and Dave quickly worked his way up the refereeing ladder , the Wearside league was followed by the Northern league (contrib) and then onto the list as a football conference referee where he had the delight of officiating at wembley on the Football conference play off final , along with acting as a football league assistant referee.

After an excellent 1st season on the conference David was given the chance to join the list of football league referees , and he has grabbed the opportunity with both hands achieving good reports from both clubs and assessors and was recently appointed to referee the Victory shield international between England & Scotland at Lincoln City’s Sincel Bank , a game which was shown live on Sky Sports.

In early 2009 Dave will be England’s representative at the prestige’s Dallas Cup international youth tournament which includes teams like Real Madrid , Barcelona , AC Milan & Manchester United which speaks volumes for how Dave is regarded in the refereeing circuit.

David started the meeting with a brief insight on how he got started becoming a referee along with his early highs & lows , with the aid of the projector & DVD he then went into discuss his early impressions & experiences as a football league referee.

The floor were shown various clips of Daves games and which provided alot of good talking points , there was a lot of positive practice which i'm sure our members could introduce into there games along with certain things David would have done different in other games.

What was refreshing was that although David has risen to the top of the refereeing ladder very quickly , he has remained the same level headed , down to earth person that alot of our members remember working with on the Wearside and Northern league, and i'm sure when David continues his quest to the top he won't let success go to his head and will still have time for the people who helped him achieve his goal.

After his presentation which lasted just over an hour David took time to answer questions and interact with our members whilst enjoying the buffet which was well received by all in attendance.

Sunderland Referees Society would like to wish David Webb all the best in what I'm sure will be a long and successful career.


David Webb (bottom centre) along with Geoff Eltringham at this years USA Cup

Tags: Event, Guest Speaker, David Webb

Sunderland society welcomed Micheal Oliver back to Rutland Street for his second visit as guest speaker however this time he wasn’t supported by his father and fellow football league referee Clive!



From left to right - Shaun Hudson, Kieran Mersh, Paul Younger, Michael Oliver, LLoyd Thompson, Chris porter, Gary Jackson, James Simpson

Michael is the youngest football league referee on the national list and is currently enjoying his second season in the middle, and judging by the profile of games & the excellent start Michael has made to the season it would come as no surprise to anyone if this was to be his last season refereeing in the football league before making the inevitable step up to the premier league.

The 23 year old has already been involved in a number of high profile games in his short career including playoff finals as an assistant referee & refereeing the football conference playoff final at Wembley at the end of the 2005-06 season.

This season hasn’t exactly been low profile, with Michael refereeing games such as Derby County Vs Birmingham City, Liverpool Vs Crewe and a live Monday night sky game between Nott’s County and Brentford which we will refer to later!!!

Michael was given a blank canvas with no subject being set to talk about , so after a 10 -15 minute talk on how he got started in refereeing and how he progressed rapidly up the refereeing ladder , Michael chose to talk to the floor about the teamwork involved between the referee , assistant referees & 4th official.

The talk was supported with Michaels own experiences in this area , in particular a live Sky T.V. game between Nott’s County and Brentford only a few weeks ago , where both the assistant referee & Michael had different opinions on a penalty incident.


Guest speaker Michael Oliver being presented with a memento from Dave Morton

After watching the T.V. footage several times Michael opened the discussion to the floor , what was refreshing was the fact that Michael didn’t try and insist his decision was the correct one , he simply asked the members what they thought , the feed back was good with some very good points & views being exchanged.

A good question and answer session followed, again it was good to see our younger members playing an active part in discussions.

All that was left of the evening was for us to witness Michaels beloved Newcastle United concede a late equaliser at the hands of Manchester City , what a shame!!!

For the second month in row Sunderland society has been treated to an excellent guest speaker , it was good to see the experienced Nigel Miller come and talk in September and with a future starlet like Michael speaking this month our society certainly looks to be heading in the right direction.

Tags: Event, Guest Speaker, Michael Oliver

Sunderland Referees Association will for the first time in their history open the doors to Football Leagues within the City.

The committee would like to extend an invitation for you and officials of your league too join us while we have these quality quest speakers.

This invitation is not to be missed, buffet provided (FREE).

Guest Speakers

Monday 15th Sep David Webb

( 1st year Football League Referee & Englands representative @ 2009 Dallas Cup)


Monday 20th Oct Michael Oliver

( Youngest Football League Referee ever!!! , refereed 2007 Conference Playoff Final & 2008 Nordvic Cup final)


Monday 17th Nov Dave Pearson

( Experienced International Rugby Referee)


Monday 15th Dec ***Xmas event***
( Social gathering everyone welcome )


Monday 19th Jan
( 100 year centenary presentation)


Monday 16th Feb Neale Barry

( Former Premier League Referee & current FA head of Refereeing)


Monday 16th Mar Nigel Miller

( Experienced Football League Referee & 2003 FA Cup final official )

Venue
Sir John Short RAOB Club,
Rutland Street,
Sunderland

Please confirm numbers to :-

Bill Black - Geoff Eltringham - Ken Barker

Tags: Event