Referees are a vital part of football and as the Scottish FA seeks to continually grow and develop the Scottish game, there is a constant need to recruit and develop referees.
Refereeing can be a highly rewarding challenge, encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle as well as significantly contributing to the development of the game. Referees operate at all levels– from grassroots football right through to the Scottish Professional Football League and international matches.
The minimum age to become a qualified referee in Scotland is 16.
Scottish FA Referee Introductory Course
The Introductory Referee Course is delivered by NOSRA on behalf of the Scottish FA.
Our next course takes place on Sat 13/Sun 14 September in Inverness.
Course fee: £50 (includes the first season’s membership fee)
The course is usually held over a single weekend for 6 hours per day. The courses are held twice a year in the January to March and September to December periods. Other courses may be held outside this schedule depending on local circumstances and demand.
There are two parts to the Introductory Course:
The first part is classroom-based learning on the Laws of the Game with an exam on the second day. The exam is conducted on computers at the course venue and involves multiple choice questions, report writing and assessing match incidents on video.
The second part involves officiating a match under the guidance of a more experienced referee. Once part two is completed, candidates are able to join the local Referees’ Association and become a Scottish FA registered referee.
Support is given to new referees by their Referees’ Association and a mentor will be arranged to provide guidance in the early stages of their refereeing careers. Direction will also be given on suitable leagues to commence refereeing.
If you are interested, please register your interest below.
Scottish FA Referee Online Course
This course is delivered over 5 modules, with a laws of the game test at it’s completion, the required pass mark is 80%.
The course can be completed within the candidates own time scale and in their own environment.
The course is conducted remotely but with full support from the referee operations department within the Scottish FA.
At the start of the course the candidate will be given the choice of, one of the 12 referee associations from which to join.
Although the course is conducted remotely, there is a compulsory requirement for the candidate to have a Laws of The Game Q&A session with a coach from their chosen referee association before they can sit the Laws of The Game mock & actual exams.
Course fee: £50 (includes the first season’s membership fee)