IFA hails the success of eCoach’s online refereeing course
In direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Irish Football Association launched eCoach’s online referee course in October 2020 to help drive recruitment numbers.
Since it has launched, over 200 aspiring referees have completed the online course, with a significant number now successfully enjoying their new career as a match official in Northern Ireland.
Trevor Moutray, the Head of Refereeing at the Irish Football Association, says: “At the height of the pandemic when government laws and regulations meant that it was impossible to hold face to face referee recruitment class, another form of recruitment was urgently required. Working with Simon Richards and his team at eCoach, an online recruitment course was developed at speed, drawing from the course already in place at the Football Association of Wales”
The Football Association of Wales incorporated the resource into their referee recruitment strategy in 2017, and it’s since help the association to acheive a 342% increase in new referees. By taking their training courses online, their training costs have also reduced by 80%.
Moutray praises the move online with the course proving to be extremely popular, having received consistent excellent feedback from potential new referees for the course’s easy navigation, excellent lay out, and simple to understand learning methods.
Given the resounding success of the online referees course, Moutray added “This method of teaching the Laws of the Game is here to stay in Northern Ireland!”
Find out more about our Referee Recruitment offer here.
Watch Trevor’s testimonial below.