If persistence and resilience counts for anything then top St George Referee Association’s (SGFRA) referee, Adrian Arndt has plenty to burn.
After a few years refereeing in the FNSW Premier League competition, Adrian has fought his way into the FFA Hyundai A-League.
His initial year will be spent as a fourth official, where he will hone his skills assisting the referee by managing the technical areas, coaches, coaching staff, substitutions and on field matters out of the view of the referee – not always an easy task!
Adrian started his refereeing career with SGFRA in 2004 and after completing the Level 4 referee course, began refereeing in the junior grades.
He was a regular attendee at training and quickly developed the skills required to start to move into the representative scene, firstly with FNSW EDP and then with the NSWSLFR.
During this time Adrian progressed to the SGFA Premier League competition where, after an initial year or two was elevated to the first grade panel.
Adrian is another product of the highly regarded and successful SGFRA coaching and development system, where he attended weekly training sessions on a regularly basis.
He continues to maintain a presence within the training program, where he assists by offering game day coaching and mentoring for some of the younger members during the winter season.
In 2010 he was selected to attend the National Youth Championships in Coffs Harbour, finishing as, referee of the tournament, which is no mean feat considering the competition provided by referees from the other
states.
After being identified by FFA as a prospective elite referee, Adrian attended the National High Schools Championship in 2011 (Adelaide) and 2013 (Canberra).
During this period he was also a member of the Foxtel National Youth League panel and a graduate of the newly formed National Talent Pool.
Following his selection into the HAL panel, he is also realising another career milestone by being selected as part of the FFA, UK exchange program.
Adrian is travelling to England for three weeks, where he, along with two other Australian match officials, will be tutored by instructors and referees from the POGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials), which is responsible for the development of English Premier League and Football League match officials.
Apart from experiencing the daily coaching program, including fitness and technical training, they will be given the opportunity to referee some games during their stay, which should be a great experience for the group.
To top off a successful 2017, Adrian was appointed to the FFA Cup Rounds of 32 and 16 culminating in an appointment to the NPL PS4 Grand Final, which was played in Brisbane.
To assist with his academic studies Adrian applied for and was successful in being granted a Sporting Scholarship to UTS which has set the standard for his future employment opportunities
Adrian has proved that if you are prepared to do the ‘hard yards’, have the right attitude, level of commitment, tenacity and the dedication, coupled with the raw ability, then anything is possible.
We wish him all the best with his UK experience and look forward to supporting him through his continuing journey towards the ‘pointy end’ of the game, whilst maintaining a presence with SGFRA.
