FA Purple shirt Initiative

There is a new initiative from the FA to get younger people involved in refereeing. This will involve under 18 children refereeing all types football and across age groups. They will wear a purple shirt to allow players and fans to recognise that the referee is a junior and as such protected by child protection laws. This will hopefully remind players and spectators that they are dealing with a 'child' and to kerb their enthusiasm and criticism accordingly.

Too many young referees have left the game due to abuse from players, spectators and especially parents (including the sons of both Stamford Strollers Taff Lovesey and Guy Walton who both had sons walk away from refereeing in their teens due to parental and player verbal abuse).

The Stamford Strollers fully support and applaud this campaign.