Premier League referees to make top-flight return without game practice or group preparation

The Premier League’s referees will go from training at home and in local parks into match action when the season resumes, with no group sessions or game practice other than the clips they are asked to analyse online from home.

The 17 select group one referees have been in serious training at home for the previous three weeks with individual fitness sessions and have submitted heart rate data to bosses at the Professional Game Match Officials [PGMOL]  for analysis. But there will be no group sessions at St George’s Park, ordinarily their base for training sessions, and no friendly matches for referees and assistants to get used to live decision-making.

Unlike the players themselves, who will at least have the benefit of the full contact training in “step two” of the government elite sport protocols, referees and assistants will go from training alone in their gardens and local parks to running Premier League and Championship games. They have been told that no friendly games are possible, and Premier League and Championship training grounds are off limits.

The referees and assistants have not yet been tested for Covid-19 tests but the intention is to do so twice a week and that will begin nearer the time of a confirmed restart for matches. Referees and assistants may yet be assigned games closer to their homes in order that they will not have to spend excessive time travelling on the day of matches. The officials have been preparing with Zoom sessions when they have been watching clips of actions and discussing decisions, which is also part of their week during a normal season.

There has been no final decision yet on whether to continue with the video assistant referee [VAR] programme for the remainder of the Premier League season, and there is still the option to abandon it under the latest IFAB advice. Nevertheless the likelihood is that the Premier League will choose to retain it. The VAR teams will either work from Stockley Park or from new facilities at stadiums – and have been told that a decision will be made closer to the time. A back-up team for on-pitch officials will be required for games in case there are positive tests. There are 20 referees and 36 assistants in the select group two which officiates in the Championship.