Aberdeen & District Referees Association

Unfortunately, Alan Walker, one of our long-serving members (circa 40 years service) has intimated that he has been diagnosed as having Mild Alzheimer’s Disease / Dementia.

There is positive news that his consultant has prescribed medication which seems to be having an effect, to the extent that Alan is keen to continue his work with the Minor Grades Advisory Panel – whenever Grassroots football gets the go-ahead to restart!

The reference to The London Marathon is because Alan’s son, Steve, has secured a place in the London Marathon (October 2021) and will be running to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research.

Steve has setup a just giving page
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/steve-walker39
and his contact details are
stevewalker774@gmail.com for any further details.

Hopefully, our members will be able to support Steve in this very worthwhile cause.

A fitness session through Zoom is available for members on Tuesday 2nd March, 2021 starting at 7pm.

The session will be based on Circuit Training and the exercises can be adapted for all to take part. 

If you are keen to do some extra training and see your colleagues again, albeit virtually, e-mail . Those interested will have all relevant information sent to them.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact Paul McAvinue.

I started refereeing back in 1995; a long time ago now. I had seen in the local papers about the constant shortage of referees in the juveniles and thought, “I can do that”. I passed the exam and took my first game in the juveniles in Banchory; an under 15’s game. I sent 3 off and cautioned 5. I got home and screamed but it did not put me off. The highlight of my first season had to be the referees conference in St Andrews. I travelled down there with Roddy Cobb and John Gover, with Sandy Roy as driver – and what a weekend that was! St Andrews was a chance to meet the top officials in Scotland and get their advice. (Also, quite an amount of alcohol was consumed by all.)

Most of the time was spent refereeing in the juveniles which I thoroughly enjoyed. The highlight of my juvenile refereeing career was to referee the Under 15’s President’s cup final at Pittodrie stadium in 1996. I acted as assistant referee in the juniors many times and also as assistant in the Highland League a couple of times at Huntly and Keith. I acted as assistant at the AIFF several times and this was great experience for me. Sadly, the AIFF is no more.

Refereeing then took a back seat due to work commitments and also due to a couple of back injuries, but it was never in my mind to let my membership of Aberdeen and District Referees slip and leave the association, as one day soon I will be back in the juveniles again.

I must give thanks to Sandy Roy for his advice on several occasions, and I must also give thanks to my mentor when I started refereeing. Mr Eddie Norrie, I thank you.

To achieve life membership of the association makes me feel proud and gives me a great sense of achievement. The association is a great thing to help all in refereeing in the Aberdeen and District (including Orkney and Shetland) area and I feel it is more of a refereeing family than a district association.

I hope the association goes from strength to strength and achieves great things for its members.

Craig Grant