British American Football Referees' Association
Encyclopedia
British American Football Association
The British American Football Association is the national governing body for the sport of American football in the United Kingdom. It is affiliated to the European Federation of American Football...
(BAFA). The referees' association is manned by a cadre of volunteers and administered by a board of eight directors elected from within the membership on an bi-annual basis (four each year).
BAFRA was established in 1984 and continues to provide game officials for American Football games played in the UK - including the majority of fixtures in the BAFA Community Leagues
BAFA Community Leagues
The BAFA National Leagues are the primary American football competition in England, Scotland and Wales. They were formed by the British American Football Association in 2010 to coordinate contact football and flag football across all age ranges...
and the British Universities American Football League. BAFRA members are eligible to officiate in European Federation of American Football
European Federation of American Football
The European Federation of American Football is the governing body of American football in Europe. It is recognized by the International Federation of American Football ....
fixtures if selected to do so by the organising body. In recent years BAFRA has provided personnel to man the chain crew
Chain crew
In American football, the chain crew are assistants to the referee who handle the first down measuring chain and the down indicator box...
s at NFL International Series
NFL International Series
Beginning with the 2005 season, the National Football League has hosted regular season American football games held outside the United States in a series known as the International Series.-Background:...
games played at Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...
.
Usually working in crews of 4 or 5 officials during regular season games, officials can be assigned to games anywhere in the UK. Due to the nature of the two main leagues (Regular season April to September, University season October to March) the association is able to officiate games up to 40 weekends each year. National finals 'Bowl' games are usually officiated by a full crew of seven game officials.
Association aims
The Association's stated aims are five-fold:- To improve the standard of officiating by training and examination, and by any other means
- To enable all American football games in Britain to have neutral officials
- To promote and uphold the status of officials both collectively and individually
- To co-operate and to cultivate good relations with all bodies concerned with American football, for the betterment of the game
- To take such action or make such representation as an Association, or in conjunction with others as may be considered desirable, in the interests of American football in Britain in general or for the benefit of officials and officiating in particular
Committees
The 8 directors of BAFRA are also members (or chair) of several working committees that are convened during the year as required:- The Rules and Mechanics Committee
- The Grading Committee
- The Examinations Committee (which is a sub-committee of the Grading Committee)
- The Selection Committee
- The Officiating Review Committee
- The Disciplinary Committee
Training
Volunteers are traditionally drawn from former players, coaches and team management personnel who already possess a wide working knowledge of the game, although other volunteers have entered with no previous active background in the sport. However, all new recruits are trained through a planned and progressive system that includes initial courses, follow on courses, one to one coaching by qualified officials and feedback after live game experience. Each official is required to complete an annual proficiency test to demonstrate that their knowledge remains current and adequate to continue with their game duties.Each regional area has an appointed and experienced Training Officer who is directly responsible to the Director of Training for the training and effectiveness of the local volunteer officials within the region.
An annual convention is held (typically in March or April), during which a number of training videos and breakout sessions are conducted, together with the Annual General Meeting
Annual general meeting
An annual general meeting is a meeting that official bodies, and associations involving the public , are often required by law to hold...
. A guest speaker is invited to participate—to mark the association's 25th anniversary in 2009, the guest speaker was Greg Gautreaux, the field judge at Super Bowl XLIII.
Game fees
To enable BAFRA to cover the costs of providing officials for any UK game a schedule of fees is charged and reviewed on an annual basis. Each game fee includes an organisational administration fee, plus a sum for each official attending (to cover their transportation costs and expenses). Trainee officials are remunerated at a lower rate than qualified officials. Fees are either block pre-paid by a team at the start of the season, or settled separately on each home game day no later than 30 minutes after the game ends.The John Slavin Trophy
John Slavin was a long-serving BAFRA official and also a director of the Association, who died in October 2005. In his memory BAFRA dedicated an annual award to be made to any UK team that shows commitment to improving the game experience for players and fans, as well as officials. The criteria for the award is decided at the start of each season by the managing committee to reflect varying aspects of game management that would benefit from improvement.Previous winners of the trophy
- 2006 - Edinburgh WolvesEdinburgh WolvesThe Edinburgh Wolves are a Scottish American football team based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Their home ground is Meadowbank Stadium. They play in Division Two North of the BAFA Community Leagues .-History:...
- 2007 - Southampton Stags
- 2008 - Oxford Saints
- 2009 - Edinburgh WolvesEdinburgh WolvesThe Edinburgh Wolves are a Scottish American football team based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Their home ground is Meadowbank Stadium. They play in Division Two North of the BAFA Community Leagues .-History:...
- 2010 - Bedfordshire Blue RaidersBedfordshire Blue RaidersThe Bedfordshire Blue Raiders are an American Football team competing in Division 2 East of the BAFA Community Leagues . They entered the league in 2008 as one of five expansion teams, and play their home games at the Bedford International Athletics Stadium.-History:The Blue Raiders were formed in...