Football South Australia's annual Senior Referee Seminar took place over the weekend, with 100 of our senior referees attending. It is a key part of the officiating calendar, delivering a consistent message to officiating in senior competitions, and providing an opportunity to celebrate Paula Orlandi receiving her FIFA badge in person.
Led by South Australia's Match Officials on the national stage, Paula Orlandi, Michelle Smith, Andrew Murray, Nick Elagin, Henry Day, Daniel Cook, Tom Brinkworth and Daniel Goodwin, the quality of officiating was able to be shown and celebrated as they shared their journeys and experiences with their fellow Match Officials throughout the day.
Andrew, Daniel and Tom explained the changes to the Laws of the Game, and how to implement them in a match to ensure that a shared understanding is met, and that they can be applied without consistently, and without confusion across all matches in our senior competitions.
Henry, Paula and Nick took us through assistant refereeing at the national level, including proficient communication with teammates to ensure correct decisions are made efficiently. This was a key point in the seminar, and will continue to be focused on with all WNPL and NPL matches using communications systems in 2026.
The Community Referee Seminar will also be taking place on 15 February, at ServiceFM Stadium and West Beach Parks, and serves as a place for our junior and community Match Officials to be introduced to the law changes and align similarly to the Senior Match Officials in our state.
These Seminars will set the foundation for South Australian officiating into the 2026 season as we look forward to the Season Launch on 27 February.
