THE diminishing number of football referees at grass roots level has been particularly felt by the WBW Solicitors South Devon League where teams in the lower divisions have frequently had to make do with club officials in charge.

The reasons behind the shortage have varied, from retirement to the increasing number of South area match officials being called on to officiate higher up the soccer pyramid.

Plus, of course, there have been a handful of referees who've called it a day early, because they're no longer prepared to tolerate players' growing indiscipline on the field.

Now, however, there would appear to be a wind of change, inspired by Devon County FA whose chief executive, Paul Morrison, is himself an active referee.

In tandem with the Paignton Community and Sports College, they recently set-up a three-part football refereeing course in which 16 willing students from the College took part on consecutive Mondays.

The 16-hour programme was organised by Rob Payne (Football Development Officer at the College), run by Adam Hopkins (Devon FA's Referee Development Officer) and utilised the College's brand new 3G artificial pitch and education room.

They introduced students to the Laws of the game in addition to learning the practical skills required to be a football referee.

And all 16 students (aged 14 to 18 years) were successful in passing the required theoretical and practical tests.

Commented Hopkins: "It's great to work with local schools to help achieve our target of a referee for every game.

"It also provides the students with the opportunity of having a career within football, while we were grateful to Paignton Community and Sports College for the use of their outstanding facilities. In fact, we hope to repeat something similar in the future."

The students' success means they're now FA qualified Level 9 referees, who can officiate in local youth fixtures.

And Devon FA is already working closely with the Pioneer Youth League and Paignton Community and Sports College to co-ordinate their first six matches after which the students will progress as either Level 8 or Level 7, depending on their age.

Carrying on with the same theme, the DCFA's training officer Peter Alsop had 20 attend a referees' course this week - five adults and the rest teenage boys and girls.

And South Devon League appointments secretary Phil Smith is optimistic that the tide is in the process of changing from their perspective, and that more and more are being persuaded to take up the whistle.

"It's looking brighter, and this season we've picked up three younger referees from the Pioneer Youth League," he said.

"I am more confident now than I was 12 months ago, though we need to attract more qualified referees from the South Hams region, especially around the Kingsbridge area where there seems to be more and more teams coming into our league."