To coincide with Time to Talk Day, The FA and Mind recently hosted a webinar which focussed on ‘Resilience in Refereeing’. 

The webinar included current and former match officials, who had all shown great resilience in overcoming challenges the game had thrown at them. This included Surrey FA President, Ray Lewis, who refereed the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough. He was joined by:

• Current Premier League and FIFA assistant referee Con Hatzidakis, who discussed dealing with the disappointment of reclassification.
• Former UEFA referee Alan Wilkie, who explained how he dealt with being stretchered off from the most prestigious domestic appointment of his career, the 2000 League Cup Final.
• Mike Mullarkey, who talked about overcoming disappointment in the 2008 Euros to officiate in the 2010 World Cup Final.
• Level 5 Kent FA referee, Joshua Williams, who described how he found the strength to get back to refereeing after a shocking experience.

Also featured was Hayley Jarvis, Head of Physical Activity at Mind and Norfolk FA referee, alongside Callum Parke, who told us about the FA’s Mental Health Champion scheme.

A recording of the webinar is now available below:

Information about the mental health champions scheme, along with the champions’ contact details, are available below:

CLICK HERE