MWFRA Junior Referee Courses

Level 4 Referee Course registrations for 2025 are now CLOSED. 

Becoming a referee with the MWFRA

Each year the MWFRA trains around 100 new junior referees who undertake the nationally accredited FFA Level 4 Referee courses. Refereeing is a rewarding and enjoyable pastime which will allow you to actively contribute to improving the standard of local football, develop management and communication skills, and be paid while enjoying football. We look forward to seeing you at a field shortly.

If you have any questions about becoming a referee or the registration process, please contact the MWFRA’s Course Coordinator, Robert Iacono, by emailing [email protected].

The Expectations of the MWFRA:

As part of this process, you can expect the MWFRA to:

  1. Deliver nationally certified training delivered by FFA qualified instructors with a follow up practical session before the season starts;
  2. Provide you with a Junior Coordinator who will endeavor to meet with you, to attend some of your games and be available for any questions you may have;
  3. Provide ongoing support through formal practical training sessions and technical information sessions;
  4. Endeavor to mentor all first year juniors as either a referee or assistant referee;
  5. Offer opportunities to progress to higher levels of refereeing such as through higher level local matches, advanced courses or FNSW’s Referee Development Program (subject to referee age, experience and performance).

To become a qualified referee will need to:

  1. Be at least 14 years old on 31 December 2025;
  2. Complete the online Laws of the Game Certificate on etrainu
  3. Submit an application to referee with the MWFRA
  4. Enrol in the online Level 4 course on etrainu and complete all the modules prior to the in-person session.
  5. Register to referee and pay the registration, uniform and course costs through PlayFootball;
  6. Attend the two in-person sessions to complete your course.

During the season we expect that you will:

  1. Make yourself available on our appointments system, Dribl, on a weekly basis;
  2. Referee at least 1-2 sessions per week (night game, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon). You will need to be available on Saturday and Sunday mornings in order to receive centre referee appointments. Night games and Saturday/Sunday afternoons you will be appointed as Assistant Referee;
  3. Undertake as many games as an Assistant Referee as possible to learn from the senior centre referees;
  4. Attend a training session at least once per month – either a technical session at a General Meeting or a training session at Cromer Park.

Steps to Apply

Step 1. Obtain the Football Australia free online Laws of the Game Certificate.

Football Australia uses etrainu for all referee training courses and accreditation. To use etrainu you must first register as a FNSW Learner on PlayFootball using this link:  FNSW Learner Registration.  You must use an email address that has not been used on PlayFootball previously. When answering the questions regarding a Working with Children Check, click No, then click Request an Exemption and in the reason box write ‘U18 referee” and your Date of Birth. Please contact me once you have done this with your full name, DOB, FFA number and email you registered with. Due to issues with the registration process, I then have to contact Playfootball to get the registration approved. You will then receive an email from PlayFootball with instructions on how to log into etrainu

 

    1. Click on ‘Learner (Football Account)”.  If you have trouble logging in and receive any error message, please contact both etrainu and myself asap
    2. Once logged in ensure that it is the learner’s details
    3. Scroll down to Learning Tailored for You and click on Referees.
    4. Click on View Courses under Referees.
    5. Click on Enrol under Laws of the Game
    6. Complete the online LOTG

Step 2. Complete the MWFRA Junior Referee Application 

You must have completed Step 1. The Referee Application can be found here: Junior Referee Application

IF  YOUR APPLICATION IS SUCCESSFUL YOU WILL BE NOTIFIED. Do not proceed to the next step unless you have been notified your application is successful.

Step 3. Register and complete the Level 4 referee course in etrainu –  This part of the course will cost $33.00. Registering for the course includes selecting the dates you

Step 4. Register for MWFRA in-person sessions. 

In-person training sessions will be held on the following dates. Links to these dates will be forwarded once the Junior Referee Application has been received.

Course 1 – Monday 17 February @ Curl Curl Sports Main Hall, 6.00-9.00pm AND Saturday 1 March @ Venue TBC 9.00am-12.00pm

Course 2 – Tuesday 18 February @ Lionel Watts Community Centre, 6.00-9.00pm AND Sunday 9 March @ Venue TBC 9.00am-12.00pm

Course 3 – Monday 3 March @ Curl Curl Sports Main Hall, 6.00-9.00pm AND Sunday 16 March @ Venue TBC 9.00m,-12.00pm

Course 4 – Tuesday 4 March @ Lionel atts Community Centre, 6.00-9.00pm AND Saturday 15 March @ Venue TBC 9.00a,=m-12.00pm

Step 5. Register with the MWFRA – further information on how to complete this step will be sent once your application has been reviewed.

Step 6 and 7. Attend the 2 in-person training sessions that you registered for in Step 3. You must have completed the online modules prior to attending the in-person sessions.

 

FAQs

How much information should be included in the application?

The purpose of the application is to learn about your motivations for applying, your availability, and to give you the opportunity to consider why you would like to referee. Therefore, we only require short (1-10 word) answers to the questions. If we require more information we will contact you separately.

How do I pay the course fee?

The Level 4 course fee must be paid when you are registering for the Level 4 course on etrainu. Additional costs for 2025 registration and your uniform will be applicable when registering with the MWFRA on PlayFootball. Registration and Uniform costs will be $130.00

The course fee is too expensive. Is it possible to pay later?

The MWFRA registration fee includes the  uniform and FFA/FNSW registration fees. We do not aim to profit from these and feel they are competitively priced. As such, we are unable to offer discounts or options to pay later.

How much will I get paid?

As a guide, the match fees from 2025 are here. Please note that they are subject to change each year.

I am unable to attend the courses for juniors/seniors. Can I attend a team referee’s course?

As our juniors and seniors’ courses include different content to team referees and teaching methodologies, we are unable to offer the team referee’s course to junior and senior appointable referees.

I am unable to attend the practical session. Can I do the practical session at another time?

If you cannot attend one of the two in-person sessions, please contact [email protected] to organise to attend one of the other sessions. You must attend two in person sessions to complete your training.

What is your cancellation policy?

We follow the FFA’s cancellation policy, available on page 11 of the FFA’s AODS. Please contact us ASAP if you need to withdraw from a course.

Further Questions?

Please don’t hesitate to contact Robert Iacono by emailing [email protected] or Sigrid Mulherin at [email protected] with any questions about becoming a referee with the MWFRA.