Storm Eunice tried, but goalball prevailed!

Despite the challenges brought by Storm Eunice, the long-awaited referee’s course took place at Bromsgrove School, near Birmingham on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th February! Congratulations to our 7 newly qualified referees, and thank you to all the players who came along to throw high balls!

All 7 candidates had previous experience of refereeing in goalball to some extent, via goal judging and table officiating at competitions. Everyone had also completed the Introduction to Officiating course before attending, the stage was set!

The 7 new Referees in their Goalball UK red fleeces in front of a Goalball UK banner. Left to right: Matthew Exley, Craig Meulen, Aaron Mitchell, Louise Gough, Stephen Reilly, Anna Martin, and Stuart Tapp.

Image of the 7 new Referees left to right: Matthew Exley, Craig Meulen, Aaron Mitchell, Louise Gough, Stephen Reilly, Anna Martin, and Stuart Tapp.

This was our first referee course since 2019 due to the pandemic, with the 2020 Referees course being cancelled due to regional flooding. Despite the storm’s best efforts, everyone arrived and we started on time.

Across the weekend their refereeing skills were developed through both theory and practical sessions led by Goalball UK tutors Dina Murdie and Dani Dillon with everyone showing great progress. A big thank you to Birmingham Goalball Club for providing the players to play the practice games and breaking the rules (on purpose) to keep our new referees on their toes throughout the course.

We are excited to see our new referees putting what they’ve learnt into practice at a Goalball UK competition soon!

Goalball UK will be planning another Referee course in the coming months, if you are interested in officiating at competitions or would be like to be sent the details of the next Referee course please contact Steve Cox via email (steve.cox@goalballuk.com) or by mobile (07706 286584).