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 Members Handbook

Selection Policy

Introduction

The BAFRA selection policy applies to the selection of members to officiate prestige games, including league playoffs, advancement to higher levels of officiating (e.g. the BAFRA Elite Programme and EFAF panel) and other assignments that may need to be made from time to time.

It will come into effect on 1st April 2006.

Principles

The principles that underpin our selection policy are as follows:

  1. The best games need the best officials, and the best officials deserve the best games.

  2. The best officials are those that show superior performance in:

    1. rules knowledge and its application

    2. mechanics knowledge and being in position to make the call

    3. good judgement in applying rules

    4. reaction to pressure situations

    5. communication skills with colleagues, players and coaches

    6. commitment to officiating in particular and football in general

  3. Good officials who show potential for the future need to be given opportunities to develop.

  4. Objective measures of officiating performance are better than subjective ones.

  5. Where it is necessary to use subjective measures (e.g. opinion), it is important that a wide range of input is sought and used.

  6. Even objective measures can be unreliable when only a small amount of evidence is available.

Implementation

Selection Committee

Selection will be done by a Selection Committee. The Selection Committee's terms of reference are as follows:
  1. The Chairman will be appointed by the Executive Board, but will normally be the Director of Operations.

  2. The other members will be appointed by the Executive Board, normally after a call for nominations/volunteers. The normal term of office will be 2 years after which a member should not normally be re-appointed until a further 1 year has elapsed.

  3. BAFRA considers it desirable that members of the Selection Committee should work with or observe as many officials as possible.

  4. The Selection Committee is responsible for:
    1. Determining the detailed implementation of the selection policy

    2. Making selections, including determining the positions worked by each member of a crew

  5. Members of the Selection Committee are themselves eligible for selection, but shall not participate in the decision-making about any position for which they are a candidate.

  6. The Committee may meet in person or remotely, or conduct its business by correspondence.

  7. The Chairman may act on behalf of the Committee where time precludes a full consultation. This may include applying policy and practice to replace officials who become unavailable for any reason.

  8. The Chairman shall inform all members at least annually of the details of the implementation of selection.

Ratings

The Selection Committee shall use a rating system as a tool to help it in its work. The system shall combine a number of factors (and others may be added from time to time). The table below lists the initial factors and the weight they will normally count towards the final rating:

experience in years and games10%2% per year worked in the last 5
exam marks30%mark obtained in most recent exam
quality of judgement (peer assessed)5%average mark obtained from most recent peer review
reaction under pressure (peer assessed)5%average mark obtained from most recent peer review
assessors' marks30%normalised average of assessments in last 2 years
game report marks (crew self-assessment10%normalised average of game report marks from current season
coaches card marks10%normalised average of coachs marks from current season
 100% 


Where average marks are based on a small number of marks (e.g. less than 3 assessments, less than 10 game report marks, less than 10 coaches cards), the average should be "normalised" by adding in a number of "mean" marks (e.g. 85% for assessments, 2.5 for game report marks and 3.5 for coaches marks) to make up the shortfall. This will weaken the impact of unrepresentatively low or high marks.

Eligibility

All qualified officials who work a minimum number of games in a particular league (or related league) shall be considered for playoff games. The Selection Committee will set and publish this minimum value at or before the start of the appropriate season. Only officials who are experienced at working a particular position will normally be considered to work that position in a playoff game.

All qualified officials will be eligible to apply to the BAFRA Elite Programme from time to time. The Selection Committee will give consideration to an applicant's potential as well as their ability as shown by the ratings.

Officials who are members of the BAFRA Elite Programme are eligible for selection as one of the British representatives on the EFAF officiating panel. EFAF may impose additional criteria of eligibility. The Selection Committee will take into account an official's performance over an extended period (at least 5 years) when making such appointments.

Non-game assignments

BAFRA is sometimes asked to provide chain crews and other support personnel for prestige games. In the past, this has included league bowl games, NFLE games and the NFL American Bowl.

The Director of Operations shall make these assignments taking regard of the member's commitment to officiating and contribution to BAFRA.