Interview with a referees’ assessor

Eamonn from Football in the Capital yesterday posted an interview with Clive MacKillop, an A-League referees’ assessor. Clive talks about the Grand Final, A-League refereeing standards and pay rates, and his own journey as a ref.

What interested me most was Clive’s thoughts on the level of refereeing in Australia:

“We should be employing Refs on the same basis as they do in Europe. You can make a pretty handsome living over there.

“In the case of the group we have in Australia, they go to Asia, make trips midweek, they have to make peace with their employer, come back to families they haven’t seen, and then perform in the A-League on the weekend.

“It’s now a 12 month job and even at the A-League level it’s still part-time.

“In the A-League Ref’s get about $1,000 per game which is a long way behind AFL who are quite handsomely paid.”

Read the full interview here.