Promotion

Monday, 23 August 2004.

Football in the UK is spit into a number of clear levels of seniority

Seniority levels are:

• The Premier League
• The Nationwide Football League
• The Panel Leagues (Football Combination and Football Conference)
• The Contributory Leagues (Including the Rymans, Doc Martins, Northern League, Midland Alliance etc)
• The Supply Leagues (Including the Hellenic and Spartan League)
• County Senior Leagues
• County Junior Leagues
• Other local Leagues.

Referees progress up the scale of Refereeing by a mixture of assessments, club marks, fitness tests and examinations, each higher level having its own requirements. Referees are allocated into LEVELS :

LEVEL	CRITERIA	NOTES
Inter	Referees who are on the FIFA list	Some International Referees Premier Referees FL Referees
1	Referees selected by the FA to serve on the National List who meet the requirement of FA Regulation 4	FL Referees Age Limit 46
2	Referees selected by the FA to serve on the Panel List who meet the requirement of FA Regulation 4	Panel Referees Some FL Referees Some FL Assistant Referees Age limit 46
3	Referees other than those selected to serve on the Panel List who are selected by the FA to serve on the Contributory Leagues and meet the requirement of FA Regulation 4	Contrib. League Referees Panel League Assistant Referees Some Premier Assistant Referees Age limit 46
4	Referees selected by the FA to serve on a Supply League and who have been allocated a place as an Assistant on the Contributory League.	Supply League Referees Contrib. League Assistant Referess Age limit 46
5	Senior County Referees. This classification includes Referees who have served at a higher level and not retained	Some Supply League Referees Age limit 43 for promotion
6	County Referees	Referee and Assistant Referee on local Leagues
7	Junior Referees not in Level Eight or below	Referee & Assistant Referee on local Leagues Can be promoted direct to Level 5
8	Youth Referee. A Level 8 Referee includes all Referees between ages of 14 and 16 as at 1st March each season. Level 8 Referees will automatically become Level 7 on reaching the age of 16	Referee and Assistant Referee on local Leagues
9	Trainee Referees undertaking the Basic Referee's Course will be registered as Level 9. A Level 9 Referee will automatically become a Level 7 Referee on successful completion of the Basic Referees Course and having attained the age of 16	Referee and Assistant Referee on local Leagues
10	Declared non-active Referees May have been at any level.	Self-declaration

Referees in Levels 10 to 5 are monitored and controlled by the Berks and Bucks Football Association. Those above this are controlled by the Football Association directly but may still operate on local Leagues under the control of the Berks and Bucks FA.