THE news the Limestone Coast Football Association has committed itself to a 2020 season bodes well for players, fans and officials who have waited patiently for their soccer fix over the last couple of months.
One group which was hopeful the season would start is the Limestone Coast Football Referees Association (LCFRA), which has a new face at the helm this year.
Eric Driscoll has taken over the reins of president from outgoing head referee Colin Smith who has moved up to Adelaide for family reasons.
Driscoll has no shortage of experience, both in the Limestone Coast and interstate, with “close to 10 years” of refereeing knowledge under his belt.
Spending his childhood in Mount Gambier, Driscoll played soccer for Blue Lake, Centrals and Apollo during his junior years, before making the move to Queensland.
A bad leg break eventually put an end to his playing career, but he decided to take up refereeing to remain active in the game.
Eventually moving back home about five years ago, Driscoll became involved with the LCFA once more as a referee.
“I was quite happy whistle blowing,” Driscoll said.
“My career got cut short as a player – there was no way I was going to have my balance left any more after I snapped my leg in two places – so refereeing it was.
“But I did not think I would come back here and end up president of the referees.”
Driscoll has already made his mark on the referee association, introducing group training, which has not happened previously.
“We as refs have been doing a lot of pre-work this year, opposed to previous years,” he said.
“We have been doing physical training, as well as going over all the laws of the game.
“We are also still waiting on support from FSA and Adelaide for them to come down and run a couple of courses and instruct us further on laws.”
Driscoll has also taken the new referee position on the LCFA board, which has helped communication between the two organisations.
“I think it will work quite well – it is a bit healthier of a relationship,” Driscoll said.
“All the information is getting passed along and the referees are not getting left out from meetings of the board.”
As far as numbers go, Driscoll said they are a little down, but there were enough referees to cover game days.
“We have a good mix of experience and some youth,” he said.
“We will continue developing the youth as much as we can – I would like to see them go up to Adelaide in the selection squad and train further.
“The squad for this year has already come out, so I will see if I can put nominations in for next year’s squad.”
Driscoll said the role was often under-appreciated across all sporting codes, which could make recruitment difficult.
“It is mainly due to the fact people just do not want to cop it (abuse) any more,” Driscoll said.
“You get in the middle and make a decision and 50pc reckon it’s great and 50pc reckon you are the worst bloke on the planet.
“To be a referee or umpire, it does not matter what grade, or what sport, you have to be a little bit thick skinned, because you are going to cop abuse.”
However, new laws have been put in place which may help tone down unnecessary verbal attacks from the sidelines.
“The laws have come back to the referees a bit,” Driscoll said.
“You have your whitecoat officials and if they are not doing their job I can red card anyone on the bench, up to and including the coach for them not controlling the crowd.”
However, Driscoll said crowd control was not the only law to change.
“They were re-writing the offside law again and the wall law – the two or three man in a wall – that still confuses a lot of players,” he said.
However, the LCFRA has offered its services to all clubs to attend trainings and conduct a refresher course for players and coaches.
With the season still a month away, Driscoll has also put out the call to anyone who may be interested in giving refereeing a try.
“We are always looking for more (referees),” he said.
“They do not have to be experienced, just someone who knows – or wants to know – the game.
“And they can still play by all means, we have a couple of kids who play and referee.”
Anyone interested in becoming a referee can email president.lcfra@hotmail.com.
