Match Officials showing potential for further advancement are being offered appointments in the Ridgeons Youth League in the first instance. The official starts off as an assistant accompanying two more experienced officials. When it is felt that the time is right then the new official will be offered the chance to referee a match and in both cases it is hoped that a Referee's Coach will be in attendance.
The next stage for development for the official will be to referee a match on the Ridgeons Reserve League. If appropriate this could see a movement season by season of referees from the Youth League up to the Reserve Division.
Ridgeons Youth League Appointments Officer for Suffolk, Maurice Scrivener, commented, "we experimented with this system in the Youth League last season and it proved to be very successful and following discussions with Tony Trevers (Referees' Secretary) and Trevor Pollard (Referee Academy Head Coach) from Suffolk FA, Lionel Scutcher (Ridgeons Reserve League Appointments Officer) felt that it seemed logical to extend the scheme to the Reserve Division."