The group has been set up by the Derbyshire FA in partnership with the Nottinghamshire FA, and the Leicestershire and Rutland FA.

This group has been designed by other female referees with the idea that they have already experienced what younger refs are going through.

Each of the three involved County FAs will host the group during the season, so there will be three regional events scheduled around the national Women’s Grassroots Development Day in February.

The first meeting of the group will be held at Loughborough University on the 21st October 2019, 6:30pm til 8:30pm.

The first Guest Speaker will be Rebecca Welch, who is a FIFA and 2a referee, having officiated the 2017 FA Women’s Cup Final between Birmingham City and Manchester City at Wembley Stadium.

Rebecca will be delivering a session entitled ‘Let’s get ready to rumble.’

All dates for the entire season are as follows:

• 21st October – hosted by Leicestershire and Rutland FA
• 16th December – hosted by Nottinghamshire FA
• February – hosted by the FA (Women’s Grassroots Development Day)
• 20TH April – hosted by Derbyshire FA

We are looking forward to hopefully getting our biggest group of female referees to date attending these sessions and building a great network of support across the three counties.

If you would like any further information, please contact Reece Davies on reece.davies@derbyshirefa.com or 01332 361 422.