Hopes Dashed

I've lost loads of weight, trained more then I ever had before just for refereeing and a letter arrived today asking for details of the games I've refereed this season.

I knew the requirement was 20 but according to the letter I need 20 this season before the end of February. Now I've had a few closed dates, taken on a few Assistant roles, when I'd rather be in the middle and of course had some time out for injury. On counting my games up I only have 6 qualifying games completed and the maximum of another 10 available to me, so I'm 4 games short.

I feel fed up and the only hope I have is if the games from the end of last season are included, which would give me another 8, taking my total to a possible 24. Even then there's always the chance that I'll be given another run out as an Assistant or might lose some games to the weather which has already seen quite a few blank weekends for others.

Since this was originally posted, my next set of fixtures have arrived. I have one more middle and one line that I didn't know about before so my maximum number of games is now down to 23. If I lose any games to the weather or worse to appointments on the line (I'm expecting at least one in February) then I will fall short, even after adding in last season's games.