As the end of season 2008/09 is almost upon us I thought it would be good to reflect on what has been a very good year as a whole for Sunderland Society and its members.

On a personal note, I feel it could not have gone any better both on and off the field. I would personally like to thank all of our members, young and old, for the help and advice that has made it possible. Getting promoted to the Football League list of Referees was obviously the highlight of my on field season. This is down to quite a lot of luck and being in the right place at the right time rather than pure refereeing ability, as I feel I have refereed better in previous seasons!! Nevertheless I would have taken it with open arms if it was offered at the start of the season.
Gaining my Three Lions as 4th official for the FA Sunday Cup Final was a great honor, and my appointment as 4th official for the Conference Play-off Final at Wembley really rounded off a great season on the green bit.

Off the field hasn’t gone too bad either, but people may say different at our imminent AGM!! I have just about completed my first year in the Chair having taken on the reigns from Ken Barker.
I’m first to admit that I’m more than a little ‘green around the ears’ and have to be nudged on a regular basis by our secretary Bill Black who sits to my right during our meetings. But I have really enjoyed the challenge and hope to continue in future years to come.

Anyway that’s enough about me what else has been going on this season.

Ken Barker has to take a lot of credit for laying a solid foundation during his stint in the chair, with membership showing signs of improvement. I think a lot of people would agree that we have surpassed our expectations this season when it comes to new members. With a good mix of newly qualified referees along with the likes of Jonny Hunt and Gary Hargreaves who have been familiar names on the circuit joining our organisation.
It was also pleasing to see some old faces returning to our society.

The quality of our guest speakers has been very good and I have no doubt the likes of Neale Barry, Michael Oliver, Dave Pearson, Dave Webb, Ian Blanchard and Nigel Miller will have attracted people along to Rutland Street on a regular basis. However, I feel we may have missed out a little when it comes to talking football with our members as we have done in past years, and the balance between the two may have to be addressed.

Our now religious Christmas smoker, or should I say non smoker, went very well and the turn out on the night was larger by some distance than it has been in recent years. The darts and dominos again going now a treat, not to mention Quinny’s revamped quiz which saw Fyvie and Fowler toppled from there throne (ha ha) not before time!

How did season 2008/09 treat our members? There have certainly been some ups and downs.

Messer’s Quinn, Fyvie and Hudson have all had a solid season, consistently performing week in week out in the Northern League. I have no doubt they will be in the mix for promotion this time next year.

Dave Morton has just completed his first season in the Wearside League and has encountered some ups and downs as we all do. I’ve no doubt Dave will start next season a stronger & better referee for it.

Danny Markham and Jonny Hunt gained promotion to the National List of Assistant Referees; both well deserved and will no doubt lift the profile of our society. They both have had tremendous seasons as Contributory League Referees.

Lloyd Thompson gained his promotion to level 6, and James Simpson and Gary Hargreaves both got there level 5. I’m more than confident this time next year they will both be supply league referees, the only surprise to everyone is how they never got there level 4 at the end of this season!!!

Unfortunately not all of our members were successful when going for promotion; it’s just a case of putting the disappointment behind them, and fighting on stronger next season. I’m sure with the likes of Malcolm Langley, Colin Burnickal, George Tyson, Bob Hodgson, Peter Ramsey, Dick Madden and John Lowery there to offer advice they won’t go too far wrong.

It’s been very pleasing to see so many younger members coming through our doors and the potential is very clear to see. Kieran Mersh, Paul Younger and Robin Raymond have all made the big step up from refereeing junior football to adult football and have taken to it like ducks to water.

Not to forget the stalwarts who are still heavily involved in football both on and off the field, Malcolm Langley, Dick Madden, Bill Black and Peter Ramsey have the unenviable task of going out in rain or shine assessing a lot of our members.

I’m sure that another of our more senior members, Billy Khatib, will be looking for a successful season in August. If his season hadn’t been cut short this term I’ve no doubt he would have been in the melting pot in both refereeing and assistant refereeing.

So what about next season? I firmly believe that our society is heading in the right direction.
We have the County dinner which we are hosting in October to look forward to and it’s sure to attract a lot of interest with Brendan Healy performing. Keep tabs on our website for details on the event.

Which leads me onto our website, I think that after a sluggish introduction to our members, a lot of people is starting to take interest in our refreshed and redesigned site. If anyone has anything they would like posting on our site please get in touch with Shaun Hudson or myself and we will make sure your request is dealt with.

All it leaves me to say is thank you for the hard work our committee has done, and more importantly thanks to our members for helping to put our great society back on the refereeing map. Enjoy your well deserved break, and I look forward to seeing everyone again come August, if not before.

Cheers,
Geoff.

Sunderland Referees Association and its members would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all our members who were successful in achieving promotion and those appointed to County Cup Finals.

Level 2 to 1
Geoff Eltringham – (National Group of Referees – Football League)

Promotion to National List of Assistant Referees – Football League
Danny Markham
Jonathon Hunt

Level 6 to 5
James Simpson
Gary Hargreaves

Level 7-6
Lloyd Thompson

Cup Finals
Lloyd Thompson – Referee under 14’s
Geoff Eltringham – 4th official FA Sunday Cup

Tags: Promotions

The Sunderland Sunday League – SJR Cup Final took place this week at Ryhope CW, with three of the society’s more youthful members officiating. Referee Paul Younger (24), along with his assistants Kieran Mersh (20) & Robin Raymond (17), took charge of a competitive encounter between division three high-flyers Hetton Town & Wearside Wildcats.

The first half saw Wildcats dominate, missing countless opportunities before Hetton broke away & scored with their first real attack. Tempers flared moments later following a late challenge, with opposition players squaring up. Paul cautioned a Wildcats midfielder for what was described by our onlooking chairman as “handbags”

The Wildcats continued to dominate & the inevitable equaliser came moments later, before some fine advantage play saw Wildcats break down the right & score their second just before half-time.

Wildcats began to run away with the game after the break, scoring two in five minutes, with the less than convincing Hetton keeper virtually throwing in the fourth! Wildcats scored a fifth late on & a Hetton defender was yellow-carded for dissent in a game not short of incident.

All three officials conducted themselves well in a game which could have boiled over had it not been controlled so well & were a credit to the society.

Well done lads!

Tags: Cup Competitions

Durham County Referees Association
Annual County Dinner

Sunderland Referees Association takes great pleasure in announcing it will host this year’s Annual County Dinner. We are proud that we have been accepted to host such a prestigious event and urge as many members of Sunderland RA to attend as possible.

We have managed to secure excellent entertainment in the form of the superb internationally recognised comedian Brendan Healey, ably supported by exceptional female vocalist Hayley Morrison.

This will take place at Nissan Sports and Social Club on Saturday 24th October 2009 starting at 7:00pm.

Tickets are priced at £22.00 and will be on sale at the AGM, or contact a member of the committee.


Posters of the event are available to download in the download section of the website.