‘We’re always easy to have a go at’: behind the scenes at a PGMOL referee training camp

I t is just past midday on Wednesday and after Mr Blue Sky plays over a montage of talking points from a busy Easter weekend of matches in the Terry Venables Room at St George’s Park, 19 referees and 30 assistant referees are plugged into the words of Kevin Friend, the select group two Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) manager. An hour earlier the referees were hurtling up and down the grass, honing their acceleration and sprint techniques in the first session of the two-day training camp at the Football Association’s sprawling national hub. “There is a lot to play for in the coming weeks,” Friend says, “and they are also really big games for us.”

This is a sacred place – Gareth Southgate is on site reviewing England’s latest displays – and 24 hours behind the scenes with Championship referees, some of whom have officiated in the top flight, is insightful and eye-opening. A referee makes on average about 300 decisions a game, an assistant about 200. Across an English Football League season referees make more than 530,000 decisions. Naturally, some are scrutinised more than others. “A referee is pretty much like a goalkeeper,” says Friend, a former Premier League referee. “If a goalkeeper makes a mistake, they usually concede a goal; if a referee makes a mistake, it’s a penalty or something like that, [something] everyone is talking about. If we make a decision that is perceived wrong, that hurts a lot.”

Match officials are rarely out of the spotlight, but over the past month the glare has felt particularly harsh. Last weekend the assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis raised an elbow at Liverpool’s Andy Robertson (the Football Association has said it will take no action). At Old Trafford Fulham’s