Refs, There are quite a few things scheduled for March – which I’ll come to in a minute.

Last Thursday’s Refs meeting (9th February) was quite different – firstly - our guest for the night John Hilditch phoned me in the afternoon, unfortunately he was unable to attend as he’d knackered his knee. We also had Ian Davies coming with a load of RA supplies – because of the very cold weather and the number of traffic accidents, Ian also had to call off.

So I got hold of Trev Massey who was doing a presentation in Nottingham, and Mass very kindly agrred to “fill in” – and he did triffic – as arry would say!!!

Trev did something unusual – as well as a series of video incidents on goal “scoring oportunities” - Trev asks the Refs to go through 20 basic questions on the Laws of the Game – and not everyone got 20 out of 20 – some present only managed to get 15 right. It just shows that Referees’ need to keep revising and re-reading the laws of the game –a little task for you – once a week – promise yourself that you will re-read and fully understand one of the 17 laws!!!

Here’s a question for you then on the laws of the game – What is forbidden on the field of play, goal nets, and the areas they enclose, the goals, flagposts, and their flags during playing time? Give in? Have a look at Law 1.

Going back to what’s happening during March – there won’t be a Referees’ meeting as such – but we are all getting together at Woodley FC on Thursday 8th for Assistant Referee Training – this is were some of the newly qualified refs will be asked to do Assistant Referee duties during a live game. If you are interested in taking part in this live training please let me know by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On Monday 19th March – kickoff 7pm - the FA will be holding a Referees’ “In-Service” Training session at the Britannia Hotel in Stockport – please see Trev Massey’s email addressed to all Cheshire Refs on that event. Trev needs a reply if you wish to attend!!

Here’s another date for your diary – Thursday 29th March – Cheshire RA are holding their annual “RA Quiz” This quiz is generally something that the Stockpoort Refs normally win – when the questions were based on football and sport, we always walked away with the trophy – but the organisers have got wise, and now some of the questions are on other things like – films - the colour Red – famous dogs – dingbats etc etc!! As a result of that slight change – to put it mildly we have got stuffed!! We always win the raffle prizes as well!! We have a good night out – its held at Northwich, and the plan is to take 3 Teams of 4 in 3 separate cars!! So if you are interested in a bit of fun – a good buffet – and bringing home the trophies, then please let me know!!

Many thanks for listening

Bob Hurren