THE Cornwall County Football Association are about to change the way that young referees are trained and developed. In a first for Cornwall young referees will be transformed with a ground breaking mixture of training, support and experience.

The Young Referees Group has been set up to develop the next generation of senior referees for the county. Working initially with around half of the young referees in the county, the plan is to make this support available to all in the future.

All referees need knowledge and confidence; in adult referees this develops on the back of years of playing experience and the gravitas that comes with age.

Younger referees face the uphill struggle of proving their ability at every match - "what can a youngster know?" is a typical attitude of some players. The youngsters either struggle through or, sadly, give up altogether, so what makes this group so different?

Ray Brown, head of refereeing in Cornwall explains: "We're tackling the knowledge question by ensuring that all the young referees in the group will be qualified to officiate at 11-a-side, small sided, Futsal and mini-soccer. This knowledge will boost their confidence and make them better referees.

"The group will have mentors throughout the season and will referee at a variety of county and national tournaments in preparation for an international tournament next summer."

The prospect of officiating at an international tournament is a mouthwatering prospect for referees at such a young age. Added Ray: "Next July the group will referee at an international football festival in Denmark with teams from over 20 different countries including Brazil, Mexico and the USA. Our group will referee throughout the four-day tournament and will officiate at the finals. The group members can only benefit from refereeing teams from all over the world with their different styles and technical abilities. They will return better, more confident referees."

This is a landmark occasion for Cornwall and one in which the county can take some pride.

"I'm proud to say that Cornwall is the first county to devise this degree of support and training to develop young referees," continued Ray. "Our next generation of referees will be better trained, more experienced and more confident than any others in the country."

The nine youngsters, from all over the county, are Zoe Dyson from Penryn; Scott Gunn, Hayle; Ashley Hockin, Kilkhampton; Tom Moyle, Goldsithney; Daniel Pidgeon, Truro, Craig Simpson, Bude; James Strout, Port Isaac; Luke Wilkes, Redruth, and Greg Wilkinson from Truro.

At present the youngsters are paying for their "further education" but it is hoped that businesses will step in to sponsor the scheme.

Said Ray: "Our hope is that the Cornish football and business communities will get behind this venture and support us with lots of small donations or maybe a sponsor will come forward to reap the rewards of publicity from this unique venture. Even national television coverage is a possibility."

Everybody with an interest in football in Cornwall stands to benefit from better referees in the future. This group are committed to travelling thousands of miles over the next eight months to improve their refereeing skills, and clearly some help would make it less of a worry for them.

"If 200 businesses or football clubs each sent and start concentrating on the job in hand," said Ray.

Anyone who would like to become involved with sponsorship should contact Kevin Wilkinson, Young Referees co-ordinator on 01872 225463; email: us@wilki.fsbusiness.co.uk or Ray Brown, referees secretary and county training officer on 01726 812180; email: rbrown277@btinternet.com