The reasons for this change are threefold:
Firstly, there are considerable savings in cost and time.
Secondly, it will allow individuals to input their own data which should improve the quality of the data.
Thirdly, there will be no need to complete any paperwork as payments will also be made online.
Last year during a pilot in three Counties, 400 Referees registered online. This represents a small percentage of Referees nationally but was enough to prove the concept worked and also checked that the systems, along with the payment gateway, were robust and functional.
In addition, in the last few days, the East Riding have carried out a small trial to ensure the process works when tailored for East Riding referees. The trial has gone well and prompted the following comments from some of our referees:
We are conscious of the fact that some people may have problems registering or do not have access to the internet and we'll be contacting you very shortly.
The FA has announced that by five o’clock on Thursday 31st March over 1,000 referees had registered online throughout the country. National Referee Manager Dean Mohareb commented, ‘This is a fantastic achievement and I have had lots of feedback already and am sure that the service will prove even more popular over the coming weeks and months.