Garforth host Army referees

Tuesday's game was part of "Catch a Match" for trainee officials

A recent Evo-Stik NPL game has become part of a referee training program within the British Army.

Staff Sergeant and Chief Referee instructor at the Army FA Chris Carter brought 31 of his serving soldiers - who are taking part in a basic refereeing course at ITC Catterick - to watch Garforth Town's narrow defeat to Ossett Albion.

The visit is part of 'Catch A Match', a routine in which aspiring referees within ITC Catterick come and watch a match on a Tuesday night as part of their course.

Chris explains by saying, "The benefits of the Catch A Match is that it confirms the learning curve that the students have been taught over the previous two days, they also get to stress their options on events that happen and we find they come away with a great understanding of positioning and movement along with why the referee gives the decisions he does; for example, why one penalty incident was given and the other wasn't."

The soldiers, whose age ranges from 19 to 42 years of age are mostly from the Catterick set-up but the instructors have come from all over the services area, including Germany, Chicksands and Aldershot.

They couldn't have chosen a better game to witness as it was packed with penalty shouts and incidents, including a last minute penalty for Ossett Albion's winner.

The following day, the students officiated a game to apply the skills learned at the previous night's match

General Manager at Garforth Town Brian Close said, “It was good to be able to help with the referees course. Having won an FA Respect and Fair Play Award at Garforth Town we were able to show our continued support for refereeing.

"I hope the trainees found the game a useful addition to their course and are able to use the experience gained when they start to referee games. After all they have to start in the lower leagues and work upwards. It wasn’t long ago that the likes of Martin Atkinson and Howard Webb worked through these leagues."

Their previous Catch A Match outing was at Darlington last week and when asked about Tuesday's adventure, Chris carried said, "We all found the game very entertaining from a neutral point of view, with numerous incidents and saw how a higher level referee dealt with a hard fought contest.

"It was a great advert for the Evo-Stik NPL, and Garforth Town AFC hosted Army FA Referees excellently".

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