Derbyshire County FA recently held their annual Referee Development Day and enjoyed presentations from guests including Ray Oliver, Paul Canadine, tutors, Referee Training Board members and Phil Dowd.
Sessions involved celebrating the successes of county officials; aiding the development of Assistant Referees; psychology in sport linked to referees; and communication exercises.
Premier League referee Phil Dowd took to the floor in the afternoon and provided a candid insight into his background, how he got started in refereeing and the numerous incidents he has been involved in as a professional referee – including his infamous decision not to send off Nemanja Vidic in the 2010 Carling Cup Final after bringing down Gabriel Agbonlahor.
He also went through some clips of match incidents and asked for the audience’s view on proceedings before explaining why he took the particular course of action that he did.
Derbyshire Referees Development Officer Nigel Smith drew the day to a close by thanking the hundred-plus people who participated in the event.
“Without having a volunteer workforce like we have in this County there would be no events for our referees to attend, it pleases me greatly no matter what we try to do, our volunteer workforce are always on hand to offer their time and effort, so it is with great pleasure that I wish to thank them for making events like this a huge success,” he said.