Graham started refereeing on the North Berks League and has always had a close affiliation with his OFA colleagues and Graham said he was thankful for their support and comradery during his career.

Graham then outlined his route to the Select Group especially the times when things had not gone well and through the use of video clips was able to share both how he dealt with situations and how he was subsequently able to ensure these situations did not affect his future games.  This provided a lot of thought provoking discussion and deliberation amongst the gathering.

Graham then shared the Select Group marking system and how every single match day decision was analysed and how much work was involved in ensuring that all referees operating at this level are performing at the highest level.  Graham concluded the first part of the evening with a question and answer session which provided some interesting questions and answers!

Following a short interval there was then an open forum with Graham being joined on stage by Tom Edwards (OFA Vice Chairman) Brian King (OFA Ref Com Chairman) and Nigel Saverton (Referee Support Manager), this proved to be a lively and interesting debate with many questions being asked of the panel, ranging from how much support Graham got as a young referee to the rationale behind issuing electronic OFA handbooks this season.

Following this the session was formerly closed by Ken Leach (Oxfordshire Referees Association Secretary)who thanked Graham for giving of his time to come and speak with the RA members and concluding by presenting Graham with a bottle of something to keep out the cold!

Following the event Nigel Saverton, Education, Safeguarding & Referee Support Manager at Oxfordshire FA said: “It was great to see so many RA members present and the value of being an RA member cannot be under estimated in the development of referees.

"I would encourage all referees to become members and thus be able to attend events such as this and learn from the experiences those operating at all levels of the game.  The next Graham Scott could well have been in the audience and given Graham only started refereeing when he was 29 it shows that age does not have to be a barrier to success in refereeing.”

If you would like more information on becoming a referee then please click here and if you are a referee and would like to join the RA and become part of events such as the one above then please email k.leach534@btinternet.com