16IBERa

IBER huge success

Four promising North Riding County FA referees have come through the heat of the Portuguese summer with flying colours.

The Development Group referees travelled to Portugal to officiate in the annual high profile IBER Cup tournament in Estoril, with three being rewarded with final games.

The referees, Jessica Shuker (19) from Thirsk,  David Jarvis (24) of Marske, Middlesbrough's Chris Proffit (20) and Thomas Marshall (19) from Scarborough were accompanied by NRCFA RDO Ross Joyce and Tutor Paul Stalker for 8 days of intensive development work which involved refereeing Europe's best professional youth teams.

 

Ross reports, "Chris, David, Jessica & Thomas were an absolute pleasure to work with during the week, in which they officiated around 20 games each involving teams from Argentina, America, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, India & Zambia to name some.  The experiences of the week-long event both from a refereeing and social perspective are irreplaceable and will stand them in very good stead in the future."

"The most pleasing aspect was having Chris, David & Jess appointed to a ‘Final’.  With over 120 + referees from around the world, including 8 County FA Development Groups In attendance and only 36 officials required for the finals it was truly unbelievable to have 3 of North Ridings Officials appointed to these prestigious Finals."

The appointments to the finals was recognition of the North Riding officials' high performances on the field.
Jess Shuker was appointed to the Under 18 Girls all Spanish final between Atletico Madrid & RCD Espanyol, shown live on Portuguese TV, with the 19 year old producing a ‘faultless’ performance with over 1,000 in attendance. Jess says, "I never thought I would ever be given an opportunity like this and I have learnt an awful lot.  I've made some great memories and some amazing new friends!"
 
Chris was appointed to the main ‘A’ Final U16 Boys as an Assistant Referee between teams from Zambia & Germany and David was appointed as 4th Official to an all Portuguese final both fixtures receiving many accolades about the performances of the officials. Jarvis saying, "Officiating games involving teams from America, Norway, France, Argentina, Germany and India to name a few, and to see my game develop over the week and learn how to deal with continental players among so many other things has been a great experience!"

It is the second year in succession that North Riding has sent its young officials to estoril for the IBER Cup - the tournament being regarded as one of the highest levels of youth football in the continent.

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