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.