has to be seen to be believed....

[ex-lucy]

the upshot is that i have been suspended from Society Appts.
upset? you bet !

 

[Lee Lifeson-Peart]

Until when? What?

 

[ex-lucy]

i have a meeting with El Pres on Sat 16th April
as i said ... the bullyboys have won ... i am denied my enjoyment of my hobby but they are not.
from what i hear .... that could be my last ever Herts Soc appt

 

[Adam]

the upshot is that i have been suspended from Society Appts.
upset? you bet !

What grounds do they have to do this? Was someone there to assess you on the day? Has someone assessed you since?

 

[dave_clark]

that's shocking. absolutely shocking.

 

[Simon Thomas]

This is a difficult situation ex-Lucy finds himself in, and not uncommon I am afraid. I have great sympathy for him.

Every Society Committee has a duty of care to the clubs and players they service.

Unless the Society is a Limited Company (only few Societies are - e.g. Kent, London) and there is any liability for a subsequent injury etc in a match to which the referee under complaint is appointed by the Society, the Committee being aware of the complaint, and if their judgement in making that appointment is proved to be wrong it could invalidate the RFU's insurance, making those Committee members personally responsible for damages.

Therefore if a complaint is made and it involves match control/management or safety, the Society has a number of options :

a) ignore it, knowing it to be unfounded
b) private conversation Chairman to Chairman
c) not appoint the referee to the complainant club's matches pending inquiry
d) suspend referee from all appointments pending inquiry

My Committee and I have taken actions b), c) & d) in the past but never a).

 

[Davet]

Suspended for what reason?

 

[andyscott]

If i was ever suspended from the society appointments, i would just tell them to poke their refereeing.

I dont believe the penalty count for a start, cant be factual.

Even if you were the worst ref ever, who do they think they are, they are a level 10 team, not exactly deserving of a top ref.

Let me ref em then they will see what :noyc: really are

 

[Fat Twin]

Ex-Lucy - the clubs treatment of you is extremely poor at best. Your Societies treatment of you is nothing short of scandalous.

Referees need to be supported no matter what. If there are issues then they need to work to address them with a referee - not suspend him.

We have had some shocking incidents recently by first team players and clubs in Liverpool, including two separate incidents of referees being assaulted (one was headbutted by a spectator on the pitch), referees abused by players, coaches and spectators and then outrageous articles submitted to the local press and incidents of social media stalking and bullying.

Worse than that the CB have not been supportive. Refs are now saying we wont go to certain clubs.

The "spirit" of our game is close to joining the "ghost" of the beautiful game that passed on some 30 years ago.

 

[Adam]

Let me ref em then they will see what :noyc: really are

Or get me to referee them and I'll show them what several :norc: are!

 

[dave_clark]

incidents of social media stalking and bullying.
\

one of the advantages of having an entirely unremarkable name

 

[Fat Twin]

Dave - i hear ya. It wasnt me that was stalked!

We also had a new and young ref chased off pitch by a very aggressive player - and he ended up locking himself in his changing room!

Its all going off up north!

 

[SimonSmith]

Can I make a suggestion for the benefit of Ex-L?

This may not be the best place to discuss a suspension, reinstatement or washing of dirty laundry...

 

[dave_clark]

typical bloody HR, ruining our fun.

:biggrin: :wink:

 

[Fat Twin]

Sharing is helpful....! If clubs can criticise and abuse us where can we go to rant!

 

[Lee Lifeson-Peart]

Dave - i hear ya. It wasnt me that was stalked!

We also had a new and young ref chased off pitch by a very aggressive player - and he ended up locking himself in his changing room!

Its all going off up north west!

FTFY.

 

[SimonSmith]

Sharing is helpful....! If clubs can criticise and abuse us where can we go to rant!

Somewhere that members of the Referees' Society in question may not be members perhaps? Or the Society's Exec....

 

[Robert Burns]

I do agree with Simon, and in these situations you should by all means seek support, but I would advise against discussing details until it's all done and dusted.

But in the end Ex-Lucy, It's your refereeing, so it's your choice.

 

[Simon Thomas]

Can I make a suggestion for the benefit of Ex-L?

This may not be the best place to discuss a suspension, reinstatement or washing of dirty laundry...

As a Society Chairman, who gets involved in these sorts of situations, I strongly recommend that you follow Simon Smith's good advice.

Anything said should in any case deal in generalities, and in the 3rd party only, not being specific to any one referee or team or match or incident, whilst it is 'sub judice'.

Without access to the full facts, anyone making wild statements, claims of scandalous treatment, or giving handfuls of YCs / RCs will not help a referee's case all. Such information has a habit of getting back to others (as I know to my cost)

In my post #26 I tried to explain any Society's position in such a situation.

Perhaps like me, take your communications on specific situations offline only ?

 

[Toby Warren]

Simon and Simon are spot on.

That doesn't however stop us from expressing our support for Ex L and best wishes that the process is dealt with quickly fairly and the result is a good one.