A message from the Referess' Committee regarding availability in 2013.

Referees - The Facts.

• Numbers for 2013 have surpassed critical levels to cover all games in Rockhampton and Gladstone.
  Rockhampton currently has 13 senior referees at various qualifications and 5 junior referees registered. Gladstone registered to date have 7 mix of senior and junior.
• When NPL have home games we lose 3 or 4 senior referees depending on appointments, with Emerald home fixture 2 or 3 have to be sent to Emerald.
  Under a state policy, no referee is allowed to officiate for more than three hours without a sufficient break to recuperate.
• Injuries are already taking a toll. No numbers to cover.
• Games will go without referees, so clubs need to get used to officiating themselves. No use complaining to Referees body as we are doing the best with numbers we have.
• Appointments to games will be made on level of competition fixture i.e. CQ Premier League will be covered first.
• It is not up to the Referees body to recruit, but FCQ and clubs themselves.
• Not enough experienced junior referees to cover junior fixtures at Rockhampton and Gladstone.
• Juniors available in Rockhampton are being appointed to assistant referee positions on senior fixtures. Because of experience will not be appointed to cover the middle in senior games
  Need more recruits at the age of 20+ to become involved to cover senior matches.

FCQ and clubs need to urgently address situation. Clubs promised to supply two people each to do a referees course. Some clubs have complied others have ignored. Putting forward juniors only to do a course is good for the long term, but without people able to do senior fixtures won’t address the problem in the short term.

Yours in Football

The Referees' Committee