We want you to be a referee

Every week, fans offer to lend referees their glasses, tell them they 'don't know what you're doing' and generally provide forthright 'advice' while frequently questioning the officials' parenthood. Yet, most of us, if we're honest, really don't know the laws of the game and couldn't referee a match or adjudicate on a VAR decision if our lives depended on on it. It's us who 'don't know what we're doing."

That's why the The SFU will be reaching out to the Scottish Refereeing Association, seeking to work in partnership with their 12 regional bodies to help encourage fans to take the refereeing course. Over the course of this season (and beyond), we'll be publishing details of how you can do this, what it's like, what you need to do to pass it- and also sharing some (very funny) stories from former referees.

After passing the exam, you can go on to earn money refereeing every week, or if you simply want to improve your knowledge of the game you'll find it immensely rewarding just to do that and be able to explain to your mates why, this time, the referee has (probably!) got it right. Who know, it might even lead to you being more sympathetic to our match officials the next time you attend a game!

Stuart Murphy, The SFU