The Referee Conference in Dublin is where you should be on the 10th of January 2015. You’ll learn from top class international football and rugby referees plus a psychologist who helped the Irish Olympic team. So, top class professionals who can help make you a better referee.

“The referees who come, will learn a lot of things that they can bring into their own game when they’re back home”, says Conor Fitzgerald, one of the organisers of the referee conference, to Dutch Referee Blog.

The event is a not for profit event. Money goes to speakers and to rent a venue. Buy an early bird ticket now for only 80 euro’s.

The three main sports of Ireland will be represented:

• Football
• Gaelic football
• Rugby

“We need to share experiences from sport to sport”, Fitzgerald says. “The idea is: why not have a conference just for referees and run by referees? There are already five confirmed speakers.”

• Mark Halsey, former international and Premier League referee and he is from You-Are-The-Ref.com.
• Gerry Duffy. “A motivational speaker, who ran 32 marathons in 32 days. He would be quite interesting to hear. He was very fat and now he’s very thin.He’ll talk about achieving goals in different circumstances. That’s also very important for referees.”
• Aidan Moran, who is a professor of cognitive psychology UCD and former psychologist to the Irish Olympic team. “He’ll tell about the importance of concentration for a modern referee and will show some techniques about how to improve our concentration.”
• David Coldrick will be talking about the highs and lows of being a top-class referee. He is a Gaelic football referee and has officiated big games like the All-Ireland final as well as many international games and other finals.
• Alain Rolland is the fifth confirmed speaker. He is a well-experienced referee who whistled the 2007 Rugby World Cup final on is

During the conference there’s also time for referees to talk together in break-out sessions to discuss with each other. Topics are for example: How to referee an intense game? “We can share techniques from sport to sport”, says Fitzgerald. “There will also be time to talk about how referees make a tactical approach for a game.” The question is what to do for example when you have a relegation match or a local derby. “How do you decide to take strong control of the game or that you’ll see how it goes?” Good things to discuss as a referee – or at least to think about for yourself.

Fitzgerald and his co-organisers welcome you all-in Dublin for this referee conference. “It should be fun for referees and it’s a good way to develop themselves as a referee. “

Check the website of the conference and buy your ticket or follow the Referee Conference on social media.