Assessments - Pray for a boring match!

You'd think I'd know better than to try and get myself promoted to a higher band of refereeing at my age. But No, as part of my efforts to get fit after losing about six and a half stone - so far - I've applied to be promoted to the FA's Level 5 of referees, known as Senior County Referees.



It's a grand-sounding title but would only make a modest difference to the games I ref. But it would mean a better standard of football, which is always good. In case you don't know, there are 9 levels of referees. I started off on Level 9 more than 10 years ago and have worked my way up to Level 6 at the moment.
As well as a written test, I'll have three or four assessments, in which an experienced referee runs the rule over your performance during a game.
My first assessment was a couple of weeks ago. I was initially surprised that the game chosen looked a bit weak and wouldn't present much of a challenge on a sunny Sunday morning in Kent. I couldn't have been more wrong!
Assessors used to be mythical creatures, hiding behind trees to take their notes so that the referee didn't know he was being watched. These days, it's a lot more humane and I had  a chat before the game with the friendly and helpful assessor, who has officiated in the Football Conference in the past.
It's wonderful to have a neutral voice watching you referee. You have to be a pretty confident character to referee and to be told week after week that you've got it all wrong and that you haven't got a clue what's going on.
The game turned out to be quite dramatic, with most of the challenges the game can throw at a ref, including a red card, a penalty, an assault on a substitute and a few yellows for various offences - Oh yes and a pitch that was more cratered than the lunar surface, making it almost impossible to give any handball decisions.
The assessment came in the (electronic) post a few days later. Generally fine, it agreed with most of my decisions, complimented me on my treatment of the red card and other offences and told me I'd got all 23 fouls right.
On the other hand, the assessor pointed out that even though I've lost a lot of weight, I'm still not fit enough to be close enough to play all the time and I was - quite fairly - marked down for that.
It's a hugely valuable document that I've read many times to glean all the information I can on my refererring and how to improve it.
I probably won't have another one until next season now, so I have three or four months to really get the last couple of stone off and some running work under my belt over the summer.