Central Football are delighted to welcome Russell Jones to the role of Referee Development Officer. This appointment comes after the recent departure of Martin Roil from the role and ensures that the Federation has continuity in the development of match officials and can build on the sound base that Roil had created.

CEO Darren Mason said, “Whilst it was disappointing to lose Martin from the role so soon, he did a really good job in recruiting match officials over the past six months and the key now is to maintain that momentum and ensure we provide good coaching and development to those new additions. Russell is a very experienced match official in his own right but equally has good recent experience in recruitment and coaching of match officials and we are positive he will help us build on the work Martin has done for us to date”.

Russell moved to New Zealand in early 2022 with his partner’s work and they have settled in Palmerston North. He has officiated for 12 years in both England and Denmark up to the  Men’s National League (5^th tier) and Women’s Super League competitions and has extensive match official recruitment and development experience through a role with the Hertfordshire FA in the UK. He has an extensive marketing background, loves 80’s music, fast cars and is a football fanatic.

In keeping with the Federations intent to minimise any disruption in the referee space, Russell starts in the role on Monday 18 July and he will be looking at connecting with those match officials he is yet to meet across the Federation in the coming weeks. We will come back out to everyone with update email and phone contacts for Russell in the next few days.

I am sure you will join us in welcoming Russell to the role and we look forward to working alongside him to help make a real difference to our game in the area of referee recruitment and development.

Article added: Monday 18 July 2022