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The ‘Complete’ History of Our Society
By Brian Richards, President, CDRS, July 2015

This short history of the Chiltern District Society of Football Referees (or more usually Chiltern District Referees’ Society) is not meant to be either definitive or exhaustive. It is simply a personal reflection of people, events and achievements that I have encountered directly, or indirectly through the various documents to which I have been lucky enough to have access. I am aware that many people, who have made significant contributions to the progress and development of our Society, have not been mentioned. Some are unknown to me, or their activities have not been adequately documented, and others are simply the practical result of considerations of space available.

The history covers the first 67 years of our Society. It takes us from its inception

in 1947/48, to the present time, and records many  of the changes that have occurred, some of the highs and lows, the people involved, and the comradeship, milestones and achievements. It also highlights some challenging issues for the future.

In The Beginning

It was in 1946 that a group of local referees, comprising a caretaker, a forester, a plumber, a gardener and a doctor, decided it was time to form a local Society, so that it could meet, support and help one another, and recruit/train more referees.  It must be remembered that at this time, those who wanted to attend referees’ meetings would have to cycle or bus (few cars in those days!) to Wycombe, Aylesbury or Uxbridge.

There do not appear to be any records of the exploratory meetings that must have taken place to establish the local Society, but from the subsequent numbering of the AGMs and the details of the career of Archie Glennerster (the gardener) assembled in 1951 to support his election as County RA Vice-president, the Society was clearly formed in 1947.  The first official meeting of the Society took place on Tuesday August 3rd 1948 at The Crown, Chalfont St Giles, and was recorded in the local newspaper, thus:

Chalfonts & District Society of Football Referees
The present registered referees of Chesham, Amersham, Chalfont St Giles, Chalfont St Peter and Gerrards Cross, met together and decided to form the above branch of the Referees’ Society and to apply for affiliation in the Berks & Bucks Referees’ Society, the object of the branch being to establish progress amongst local referees and develop this important function within this particular area.  It is felt by the present referees that by forming this branch it will encourage those individuals who are interested to take up the whistle, particularly past players and younger men, giving them the opportunity of gathering experience and knowledge from the older referees, at meetings, which will be held periodically.  The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 7th September 1948 at the Crown, Chalfont St Giles, when the officers of the branch will be elected.  Enquiries are welcomed by Mr E M Knott of Mayfields, Lower Road, Chalfont St Peter, who is acting secretary pro tem.

The new Society was quickly affiliated to the County RA, whose earliest record simply states:

“Accepted as County RA Members, Sunday 7.11.48”
The Name

Initially the majority of the members lived in the Chalfonts’ area which lent its name to the original Society title – The Chalfont & District Society of Football Referees – and the first Official Headquarters was The Crown at Chalfont St Giles, later to be replaced by The Fox & Hounds and then The Sussex Lodge, both in Chalfont St Giles.  However, in 1977 the name was changed (not without some opposition) to  The  Chiltern  District  Society  of  Football  Referees (shortened to CDRS) in  recognition of  the  fact  that  the  catchment  area  for  our   members   had   become   essentially   that  of   the  new  Chiltern   District   Council (i.e. Chesham, Amersham, all The Chalfonts, and Great Missenden), which kindly gave us its consent to use its crest, and ever since we have displayed it proudly on Society ties, the Society Magazine etc.

The Rules of The Society, which until recently had changed little in substance over the years, were formulated in 1949. The object of the Association was ….”to provide opportunities for members to  meet periodically for social intercourse, for the discussion of matters relating to the work of referees and football in  general, to  protect  the  welfare of  referees  and football, and to assist where

possible, members to reach higher status.”  A separate Rule, discarded in 1957, read,  “Any referee, player or club official wishing to have an explanation of a doubtful point, can have such explanation by sending in writing to the Hon. Secretary, who will give notice to the next meeting, at which the question will be discussed (if necessary) and answered”. The strict formality implied contrasts starkly with the informality and spontaneity of our current Match Incidents period.

In the early 2000s, the national RA tasked a group of management consultants to undertake a comprehensive review of the structure, role and operations of the RA, and make recommendations on the way ahead. The outcome was a dramatic revision of all aspects of the Association, requiring a major rewrite of its own rules for the (then) RAE (Referees’ Association of England). From 2003 to 2006 the RAE Board worked with a completely new constitution which has again been subject to drastic revisions in subsequent years. Such a dramatically changed scenario meant that the County RA required more than just a face lift. It needed to be leaner, meaner and more dynamic and this required a new constitution, which it delivered at its 2005 AGM. In turn the constitutions of the societies needed to reflect and accommodate these changes, and thus CDRS also amended its rules in 2004. The current rules of our Society were adopted in October 2014
The Founding Fathers

The first written records are the Minutes for the AGM of the Society, which took place at Headquarters on Tuesday August 16th 1949. The first subscription was 5/- (25p). Hints of the formality of this and other meetings in these early years, lie in references to members using the formal appellation “Mr”, and contain sentences such as “Mr Hillson, BB FA from High Wycombe, having to leave before the meeting was closed, was excused”.  Similarly great concern was shown at the well-being of members; “God willing he will be still around and about with us”, was the Minute recording progress in the illness  of Jimmy Neville. As far as I can ascertain the founders members were:

Teddy Knott, (President, Chalfont St Peter), Jimmy Neville (Chairman – caretaker of The Memorial Hall Chalfont St Giles), Maurice Edwards (Secretary, Chalfont St Giles), Bert Davies (Treasurer, Chalfont St Peter – self-employed plumber); Examining Committee : Archie Glennerster (Gerrards Cross – gardener); Horace Freeman (Amersham).  Ordinary Members : Fred Hayward (Chesham – a doctor), T H Hinks (Chesham), George Taylor (Chalfont St Peter – a forester for the local council),  P James (Chalfont St Peter) and E E Holdborough  (Chalfont St Peter).

Of course none of these stalwarts survives, although Maurice Edwards was for many years a Vice-President till his death a few years ago. He started his footballing career in 1921, progressing to refereeing in 1939 and continuing until 1967. It was from Maurice that I managed to acquire copies of most of the earliest newsletters-cum-magazines. Horace Freeman who died in 1981 at the age of 91, and who lived in Whielden Street, Amersham, is still remembered through The Horace Freeman Trophy awarded annually for “The Society Man of The Year”.  Arthur Edwards, who joined in 1953 and was a staunch member until he moved away from the district in 1968, but who retained close links with CDRS, is also remembered through an award – The Arthur Edwards Memorial Shield. When Arthur died in 2005 he made a small bequest to the Society (through Alan Kime a former member in the 60s and 70s, and a Vice President of our Society) which is used to support the award to a “newer/younger member whose actions have promoted the status of the Society.”  Jimmy Neville, who was to be Chairman for the first 15 years, provided a real link with the past, even the 19th century.  He had already served football for several decades when the Society was formed.  In 1949 he was made a Life Vice-President of Berks, Bucks & Oxon RA, with the citation  “. . . had put in 50 years of football as a player, referee, Chairman of local cup competitions, Wasps FC, Chalfont & District Minor League and other football functions”.

The People

The work of this Society has been carried out by many memorable people, and it would be inappropriate to list individual members who have reached the higher echelons of match control. Indeed, any listing would doubtless be incomplete, and certainly not representative of the tremendous grass-roots efforts and endeavours of a large number of referees. However, one list is worthy of inclusion here.

A Society such as ours always depends on the continued efforts of a small band of committee members to function and prosper, and over the years this Society has been well served by such dedicated people.  In the earlier days there were Teddy Knott (President for 24 years), Jimmy Neville (Chairman for 15 years), Arthur Edwards (13 years as Secretary, Vice-Chairman and Chairman), and Eric Wilkins (11 years as Treasurer, Secretary, Vice-Chairman, and Chairman – he sadly died in office).

In more recent times Steve Hailey (15 years – 12 as Chairman or Vice-Chairman), Dennis Rooney  (14 years – 9 as Treasurer), Rodney Hills (13 years as Secretary, Vice-Chairman and Chairman), Henry Bell (13 years), Martin Wyvill (18 years  –  12 as Vice-Chairman), Lindsay Szulc (15 years  –  8 as County RA Delegate), and John Simmons (18 years  –  8 as Assistant Secretary) have served us well as part of a vigorous committee.

Of the present committee, we have some outstanding examples of dedication: John Oxley (42 years on the Committee as Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Treasurer, County RA Delegate), Brian Richards (36 years – 15 as Secretary, 3 as Chairman, 33 as magazine editor), Alf Field (31 years – 3 as Secretary, 13 as Chairman). Over the past 13 years, our current Chairman, Vince Smith has continued this line of able and dedicated members (20 years –  10 as Secretary, 6 as Chairman) leading a vigorous committee by example.

 Since the mid 70s the Society was fortunate to have two “elder statesmen”. The first, Ralph Higgs, joined the Society in 1952, giving him an extraordinary 59 years  continuous member-ship (inc 6 years as Treasurer in 1955-1961). He was always very active, and as President (1994-2011) he attended most Society meetings. As an assessor he continued to help new and young referees until his death in 2011.
The second, Geoff Dell, died in June 2008. He first became a member in 1956 and provided a much needed steadying hand for the Society during some of our more troubled times. He was President for 18 years over two terms, Vice-Chairman for 5 years over 2 terms, Treasurer for 3 years, and audited our accounts for 15 years. Both Ralph and Geoff received the well-deserved RA 50 year membership award (2002 and 2007 respectively). A current stalwart and “elder statesman”, John Oxley also received this national recognition in 2013.

There have ever only been nine members elected to Life Membership of our Society, this small number reflecting the high status the award carries. Whilst Jimmy Neville (1964), Archie Glennerster (1966), Horace Freeman (1970), Ralph Higgs (1979) and Geoff Dell (1998) are no longer with us, the remaining four, John Oxley (1994) and Brian Richards (1996), Alf Field (2012) and Vince Smith (2014) are still very active and occupying key positions within the Society and its committee.

In 1996 John Oxley’s undoubted efforts for the Association were recognised nationally with THE RA LONG and MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD (LMSA) – one of only 30 ever awarded in the allied counties. The award usually requires significant service over 25 years. In 1999 the same honour was bestowed on Brian Richards, and in 2012 Alf Field and Len Randall joined the select band of LMSA recipients.

A particularly sad event was the death in 1991 of a keen member, John Revel, from a heart attack whilst refereeing a local league game. The large numbers of mourners from the local footballing fraternity at his funeral was testament to the high regard in which he was held.

The Venues

The Chalfont & District Society of Football Referees, with a membership in the range up to about 30, has met regularly over the years in many local hostelries including The Crown (Chalfont St Giles), Nags Head (Amersham), The Three Pigeons (Chalfont St Peter), Fox & Hounds (Chalfont St Giles), British Legion (Chesham) along with Chesham Utd FC and Chesham Bois Squash Club.  More recently, as The Chiltern District RS, we have met at The Crown (Amersham), the Polish Ex-Servicemen’s Club (Amersham), The McMinn Centre (Chesham) and The White Lion (Lt Chalfont). But in 2000 we made what appears to be a permanent move to the convenient and relatively cheap Amersham Community Centre.

In the early years meetings were not always held on a monthly basis, but were often agreed on a month by month decision.  However, the attendance was good – up to 60% of the membership in the 1950’s!  For the past 30 years we have averaged less than half that figure, whatever has been tried to attract more members to the monthly meetings. The cost of the meeting room used to be a source of concern, but with some close friends and persuasive talking we have usually been lucky with almost “peppercorn rents”. However, disaster nearly struck in 1966 when The Crown (Chalfont St Giles) raised its evening hire charge from 5/- (25p) to 15/- (75p). A strong protest to the brewery resulted in the reply “… the room would continue to be available at an economic rent” (i.e. staying at 25p!).

A similar impending disaster loomed in 1986 when the Forté chain took over The Crown Hotel in Old Amersham and wanted to quadruple the hire fee over-night. This time the Polish Ex-Serviceman’s Club came to the rescue with a venue which, if somewhat unconventional, was free and warm with cheap beer. Subsequently, we owed much to the McMinn Centre for making a charge which must have been well below the “economic rent”. In recent years, we have taken advantage of the Amersham Community Centre with its subsidised facilities, and cheap beer!

Training

There was no formal election of a Training Officer until 1973, at which time Peter Waller became the first incumbent. Prior to this, training had been carried out on a rather ad hoc

basis, with members being invited, or appointed, to the post, and generally organised by people like Archie Glennerster.  In the early 70’s the training team was Rodney Hills, Ted Weston and Peter Waller, and the training course fee was 50p! The first reference to a formal training course for new candidates (at Newlands Park College) is found in September 1949, and optimistically records, “It was generally thought that this course of instructions would be interesting to anyone who cared to go along”.

The candidates from Newlands Park regularly numbered 20-25, contrasting with the typical level of 1-6 potential referees taught on other occasions. Where possible these were grafted on to the courses run at Newlands Park College. The retention rate from the Newlands Park candidates was virtually zero, most taking the course simply to further their educational qualifications. At one point a rival Society was established at the College, but this lasted for less then two years, presumably because of the lack of commitment to refereeing per se, and it closed in 1967.

As for in-service training at the monthly meetings, this has always been the usual cocktail of speakers, presentations, quizzes, forums, Match Incidents sessions etc, common to all Societies.  Interestingly, immediately after the formation of the Society, in-service training often consisted of Archie Glennerster (also Training Officer at Uxbridge!) asking “20 questions about the Rules”, which by popular demand was repeated on many occasions. Sometimes Jack Bickmore (FL linesman) organised something akin to Match Incidents. Over the years training assumed a rightful central role in the Society, and four of our members, Brian Richards (1983), Martin Wyvill (1986), Mick Owens (1994), Graham Laurie (2002) became National Licensed Referees’ Instructors to raise the level of our training skills. For a 5 year period (1989-1994), Dave Thomas ably led the training team.

Such was the RA, and our society’s, involvement in training new referees that several of our training officers (including Brian Richards, Dave Thomas and Gerry Taylor) joined with others from the allied counties to generate and deliver training sessions. For example, the group led by Bill Chamberlain (Slough), generated a “road-show on “Lining” which was delivered on over 20 occasions to societies, and eight training modules delivered on over 30 occasions.

Sadly however, the experience, expertise and enthusiasm generated by the societies have largely been dissipated. In recent years full responsibility for all aspects of recruitment and training of new referees has been taken by the FA through the County FA’s new Training Officers and Referee Development Officers, and the Society’s involvement has necessarily changed and become much more limited. What lasting effect this will have on the society we have yet to find out – but the omens are not good. Indeed the decrease in RA membership nationally over the past 5-10 years has been attributed partially to this arrangement whereby the RA and its societies no longer have organised close contact with would-be or new referees.

The Finances

Sixty years ago keeping the accounts was a fairly casual affair.  When Ralph Higgs became Treasurer in 1955 he was handed a small pocket book for the accounts and a tobacco tin with a few shillings in it! Nonetheless, for the first thirty years there was always a problem of solvency. In August 1952 a Minute read, “Each referee of the Society be asked to give one match fee to the Society so as to help the finances”.  The effect, if it happened, was not dramatic, for in the early 1970’s the account was often overdrawn, reaching a peak of safety of £41.71 in 1973.  This is a far cry from the stable situation the Society now enjoys of having over £4,000 at its disposal, which has enabled us to help our members in times of need or emergency, and subsidise both our social events and the magazine. It has also allowed us to keep the Society subscription down – currently it is £6.50 and only £2.50 more than it was in 1984  – what excellent value for money!  In the same period the National RA subscription went from £2 to £12.

The present financial cushion is very largely due to the diligent way in which the committees of the late 70’s and early 80’s dealt with the finances. First they established a custom with the local clubs of organising and providing officials for pre-season matches (14 in 1978 rising to 68 in 1985 – an organisational nightmare, but worth it!), with all match fees going to Society funds. For several reasons this method of raising funds for the Society has virtually disappeared.  Second, prudent housekeeping, in particular regarding room hire, and a habit of rarely claiming legitimate expenses, severely limited the outgoings. Little by little financial stability was established by a continuing team effort.

The Magazine

Another source of pride for this Society (including me) lies in our own magazine, which has now been issued continuously for 45 years.  Being a bit of a hoarder and having a keen sense of history I am proud to say that I have copies of all but 6 of the more than 460 issues, many of the early issues being provided by founder member Maurice Edwards.

Intermittently during the 1960’s the Society issued a short newsletter, but the first issue of the magazine proper, then The Chalfont Referees’ News, saw the light of day in January 1969 with Tom Galbraith as Editor.  So began the unbroken production of our magazine.  The solid groundwork of the editors in those early days cannot be under-estimated.  Not for them word-processing, photocopying and modern printing techniques.  They used old, usually discarded typewriters and duplicating machines producing magazines of only a few pages, which were often barely readable, but nonetheless eagerly sought and read by recipients.

Tom always saw his task as simply getting the project off the ground.  Hence after only three issues as editor, Peter Waller was inveigled to take over, producing 42 editions over the next five years, until he left the area (I was pleased to see that Peter was awarded the RA’s LMSA in 1998 for long and meritorious service). In August 1973 Fred Weaving became Editor jumping at the opportunity to display his literary talents, but printing difficulties limited the output to 23 slim editions over three years.  The cost of producing the magazine was £21 in 1973 – it is now well over ten times that figure.  At this stage members with connections in “the print” took a hand.  First Terry Staples occupied the hot seat for two years (20 issues) followed in August 1978 by Roy Halsey (three years and 30 issues), both editing, printing and distributing the magazine themselves.  When Roy resigned in 1981 Martin Wyvill ably filled the gap for a further year (10 issues) until I combined the responsibilities of Secretary and Editor in August 1982.

I am proud to have continued for 33 years (330 issues of a 28 page magazine); it has given me immense enjoyment. But I have been solely an editor – not a printer – and throughout my tenure I have been lucky enough to have had the invaluable support initially of Roy Halsey and then of Alf Field (for over 25 years) in the printing of the magazine, and of many people in its distribution, invariably led by John Oxley. In recent years the distribution has largely been accomplished electronically with only a small number of hard copies printed, and these tasks have been undertaken by Len Randall and John Oxley.

The first issue comprised four pages (each half foolscap) containing news, a few typing errors and some nostalgic reminders of past members (Lionel Gibbs, Arthur and Maurice Edwards, Horace Freeman, Eric Wilkins, Vernon Bull, Teddy Knott ….). Since then we have come a long way.  It has grown steadily into the 28-page word-processed magazine that is distributed widely across the country (exchanged with many other societies), with many of its original articles appearing in other magazines and even in the national publications such as the Football Referee, and more recently Refereeing Today and Refereeing. But we have always been lucky  –  we enjoy a high level of input/copy from the members and/or readers themselves, ranging from original articles, cuttings, letters, questions etc, with several members contributing monthly columns.

Wider RA Involvement

Although we have never been a Society of great size, we have managed to carry more than our weight in the wider activities of the RA.  From the beginning, attending the County RA meetings was always considered “a must” (Ralph Higgs was often the delegate) and the early Minutes record the lengths sometimes required to do so  . . . “difficulty in getting to Abingdon to the County RA AGM. Contacted Wycombe to combine in the hire of a coach” (1956). Moreover, the names of CDRS members constantly occur in County RA documents, and we have always had a good representation on the County RA Committee. Amongst the latter were Teddy Knott (Treasurer early 1950s, Auditor 1955-1972), Jimmy Neville, Archie Glennerster and Horace Freeman (made Life Members in 1962), Arthur Edwards (Ass. Sec. 1960-1966), Alan Kime (Ass. Sec. 1964-67, Secretary 1967-1970, Executive Member 1966-1968), Alan Loveday (Ass. Training Officer 1970-71, Training Officer 1972) and Eric Wilkins (Ass. Sec. 1970-1975).

The tradition has been continued with Rodney Hills (Treasurer 1979-1985), Len Randall (2011-present), John Oxley (Chairman 1994-2006, Treasurer 2006-present), and Brian Richards (Ass. Sec. 1979-1981, Secretary 1995-2014); the last three were on the new-style County RA Management Committee as Treasurer and Secretary respectively (2006 onwards).  Eleven of our members were also made Life Vice-Presidents of the County RA. In addition, in recognition of their sustained contributions to the County RA, 14 members have received County RA Meritorious Service Certificates (Teddy Knott 1963, Jimmy Neville 1963, Archie Glennerster 1968, Tom Galbraith 1975, Ralph Higgs 1979, Rodney Hills 1982, Brian Humphrey 1982, John Oxley 1982, Henry Bell 1987, Steve Hailey 1989, Brian Richards 1989, Dennis Rooney 1989, Alf Field 1998) and Mick Owens (2001).
The first recorded contact with the National RA was in October 1950, with “Mr T Annal, Secretary of the Southern Div RA who had that day travelled from Manchester to address us”. His advice? His recorded words of wisdom may sound a little officious and old fashioned, but there is still a resonance about them: “Read your Referee’s chart.  There were no perfect referees, but the referee was always right.  Always caution a player first, before  giving  him  marching orders.  Drop the ball, not bounce it.  Enforce the Laws not make them. Never go into dressing rooms to lecture players.

Always dress smartly – black shirt, white collar, black knickers and black stockings”.

Nowadays attendance at, and participation in, the RA Conference is taken for granted, as is the interaction with colleagues in other counties. It hasn’t always been so, but for the past thirty years our Society has sent its representative to the annual Conference weekend. In 1998 Chiltern District RS, in collaboration with Harrow RS, was instrumental in the generation and formalisation of the posts of Recruitment and Retention Officers, at both national and local levels.  Sadly, although the idea was strongly supported at the 1998 Conference, many of the County posts remained unfilled and the activity never received the priority it deserved.

Since about 2004 a major role in the reorganisation and restructuring of the National RA has been played by Len Randall. His undoubted skills in formulating a credible constitution and overseeing its implementation through times of immense changes were of irreplaceable help to the RA Board, on which Len served over two terms.

The work of the Association, whether at local society, county or national levels has been accomplished by the tremendous efforts of many outstanding people, mostly unsung. However, the work of some members has been recognised outside the Society. First, the National RA has seen fit to bestow its highest honour, LIFE MEMBERSHIP OF THE RA, on John Oxley (2014). This recognises a life-time of service, usually over 40 years, to the Association. In addition, five CDRS members – Horace Freemen (1972), John Oxley (1997), Brian Richards (1999), Alf Field (2012) and Len Randall (2012) have received the RA LONG & MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD. This award is made for really devoted and outstanding service to the RA (not simply membership) over many years (usually taken as 20-25 years).

The County RA Meritorious Certificate was replaced in 2006 by two other service awards, and some CDRS members have again been worthy recipients:

B&B RA 10 yrs Meritorious Service Certificate (all 2009) … … Vince Smith, Martin Wyvill, Lindsay Szulc and John Simmons

B&B RA 25 yrs Meritorious Service Award (all 2009) …. John Oxley, Brian Richards

Extra-curricula Activities

One of the advantages of being a small Society is that it engenders a family atmosphere without cliques, and over the first 40 or 50 years the Society enjoyed quite a full social life with well attended Dinner/Dances (I believe we were the only Society within Berks & Bucks to have had this as an annual event for more than 35 years – though sadly this is now no longer held), evening functions, visits to night-clubs, friendly cricket matches, and informal gatherings at local restaurants. Since the turn of the century, however, the demands for social activities have almost disappeared, reflecting the change in social activities in the wider world in which clubs, societies, meetings of people with mutual interests, etc play an ever-decreasing role.

In the 60’s and 70’s there were many visits to the West End to see many shows including Camelot, Big Bad Mouse etc, whilst in the 80’s Blazers nightclub at Windsor became the preferred venue. In the 90’s Christmases were often celebrated at The Appletree, or other local restaurant. Our 25th anniversary was celebrated at The Beech Tree, Beaconsfield, whilst our 40th anniversary was celebrated twice! First at Grusty’s Carvery in Berkhamsted, and second, more formally, at The Bell House, Beaconsfield.  Our 50th anniversary was a splendid occasion – a dinner/dance at the Harewood Downs Golf Club, and this was the venue for the last ten or so annual dinners.

The same spirit of a small community has meant that we have easily generated lasting relations outside the Society.  For example, the fact that we have provided (and still do provide) referees for Dr Challoners School games has had mutual benefits: they get official referees thus releasing masters for other duties, whilst we get the chance to “blood” new referees in “no hassle” games. In addition, the society benefitted from a small donation from the School. For many years the Society provided a side-show for the annual Bell Lane School fete. And of course, we have always been the natural source for officials for the plethora of small-side tournaments in this area (Chesham Utd FC, Amersham Tn FC, Chesham Carnival, Chiltern Ath FC, Chalfont St Peter FC, Harefield FC, Woodside School etc, etc).

On the subject of small-side tournaments, for many years we actively participated in the County RA 5-a-side competition. A senior member once described our efforts as enthusiastic but under-achieving  – a euphemism for never having won the competition. However, in recent years the enthusiasm evaporated, and we have not entered a team – a situation common to many other Societies. The sight of referees (wannabe players!) having to be disciplined in these competitions was undignified, and set a poor example to players and other referees alike. This undignified behaviour was sadly mirrored by other teams at the national finals. In fact such poor behaviour led the County RA to withdraw its support (1997) and the competition was finally disbanded in 2003.

Participating in the Annual County RA Quiz on the other hand, has been a constant source of pleasure and education both for those taking part, and for those in the audience.  Our prowess really blossomed in this century and we brought back the trophy on eleven occasions in fifteen years (2000-2015), led by stalwarts such as Alf Field, Peter Jones, Simon Parbery, Vince Smith, Lindsay Szulc and John Simmons. As winners we represented the County RA at the regional and national finals. At these levels the “professional quiz participants” became evident. But over the years our performances have improved year by year resulting in our being national champions (2010-11) and runners-up (2013-14).

Some Things Never Change

We tend to think that overt dissent is a relatively recent phenomenon emerging over the past 25-30 years, and certainly that assaults on referees is even more recent. Well, worries on dissent occur throughout our records, and rare though they may have been, assaults have also unfortunately been recorded in the history of the Society.  In November 1949, a stark entry says it all:  “. .reported. . . re assault of a referee at Brill, whereupon Aylesbury Referees’ Society took it upon their own hands to prosecute, this it was pointed out, was not the correct procedure, the correct way was to report to the County RA”  Sadly we have not been immune from these outrages, and over the years we have had a number of assaults on our own members – ten that I can remember.

Changes to the Laws (proposed or actual) have always caused much local debate.  I smiled when I read in the Minutes of a 1953 meeting, “. . . suggestion for speeding up the game from throw-ins, namely give an indirect free-kick from a foul throw-in”, and “. . . also the pampering of the goalkeeper by some referees who would not allow the charging of the goalkeepers”.  In fact, very little is new in the beautiful game. The disappointment of members not gaining promotion has also elicited much comment over the years – exactly as it has does every season!

John Oxley was honoured by the Chiltern District Sports Council in its 2004 annual awards, when he received the Bill Carvosso Cup, for “Service to sport for those of any age who have given long and outstanding voluntary service to a specific sport”. He was given further recognition when awarded the Paddy Worthy Trophy as “the best of the best” for 2004.

In December 1957 John Wilcocks pursued the question of  “. .  whether county assessors should contact referees after the match to inform him of any errors”.  Remember, at this time there were no formal assessment reports.  Sadly, the suggestion was turned down by the County FA.  On the same theme, and close to my own heart, in March 1958, the Society “suggested that coaching schemes be adopted for assessors”.  Well, it took nearly 40 years for this to materialise, but we do now have these. Assessing is an area in which there has been great progress over the years with much more available in terms of support, training, quality monitoring, standardisation etc, all of which is now under the direct control of the County FA RDO.

From The Past to The Future

In the first few years the Society boasted a membership of approaching 20. However, like many similar associations, the Society has had its ups and downs. Indeed, there were periods of decline when the Society seemed to be fading away, and it took the determined efforts of a few individuals to turn things round.  The mid-late seventies, when membership dropped by 40% to around 20-25, together with a precarious financial position, was a particularly critical period. But the impact of 4 or 5 new committed members of the committee oversaw a steady restoration of the strength and finances of our Society which has continued steadily, if not dramatically, over the past thirty years. Nowadays the stronger Society has a membership a little under 50, although there has been a small but steady decline over the past ten years from the heady 71 members in 1998. Such a decrease mirrors the decrease in the numbers of referees registered with the County FA, or indeed the FA, over the same period.

The recent decrease in RA membership experienced by the Society is reflected by a similar decrease nationally. These downwards trends are currently a cause of much concern, and will be the subject of much restorative efforts.

Only a few of our members have made it to the National Lists of Officials. However the main role of the Society, and indeed its future, lies as much in the hands of those intrepid week-in week-out local officials, as it does with the very few high-fliers  –  everyone has a role to play. Indeed it is my contention that the real business of societies is to help referees at the grass-roots level, to guide them through their years as junior referees, and encourage them to progress through the ranks to the lower reaches of the pyramid system (level 4). Thereafter, referees “in the system” have access to other sources of help which the FA has installed over the past 10 or 12 years. It is to these referees that we look to help their junior colleagues. But for a variety of reasons, the majority of referees will not reach those heights and it is the Society to which they turn for help, encouragement and camaraderie.  I am proud that we have fulfilled this role well.

Reflection

Looking back over the first 67 years, we have much to be proud about and it is fascinating to conjecture what will happen over the next 40 years. But the outlook seems very challenging, and in some ways I fear for our future.

The life-blood of all societies, especially the smaller ones like ours, is the constant trickle of new members joining from recently completed training courses. It may be only a few a year, but it is essential. This life-blood replenishes the stock as older members die or retire. I believe that this life-blood is now under serious threat from two directions, which are already leading to the gradual and noticeable  demise of the smaller societies.

First, the new training structure introduced by the FA in 2006 with its minimal RA involvement, does little to promote FA-RA co-operation and mutual help. Indeed, I believe it is forcing a gap between the two Associations with consequential detrimental effects. In addition, the modular structure requires each training course to have at least 12 candidates. There are many small societies representing small (mostly rural) communities for whom this is rarely possible. Consequently they are now unable to run courses, and hence lose the opportunity to recruit new members.  The steady decline in RA membership across the country must be (partially at least) attributed to this change to a new training structure.

Second, for training purposes counties are now divided into areas, which don’t necessarily correspond to traditional society catchment areas, but reflect points of densest population. When setting the training programme, these areas will get course allocation from the County FA, and such courses will be run by Referees’ Instructors living in those areas. There is no course allocation for the traditional societies.

So the smaller societies are suffering a double whammy – they can’t raise twelve candidates to run a new course, and the candidates they do have within their locale are directed to a course in other areas. If this happens, the small societies will get smaller and eventually die.  This demise will not happen overnight, it will be a slow attrition, but the signs are already there. Yet arguably, the small societies are more important in terms of local referee support than their larger counterparts. Societies like ours provide a local appeal, and our members feel an attachment to the local society i.e. a local identity. If it disbands it is unlikely that remaining members will join another society 15-20 miles away, and they will be lost to the RA.

But on an optimistic note, I firmly believe we have both the individuals and the skills to be able to emulate the sterling work of our members over the first 65 years of the Society, and maintain a healthy and vibrant society for the next 40 years.