Who’s the Ref (WTR) & Matches
Who’s the Ref (WTR) is an online appointments platform, used by referee societies across the country to manage referee availability, appointments, membership records and expenses.
To make sure you’re considered for fixtures, it’s important to keep your availability up to date.
Updating Your Availability
- Log in to WTR.
- Select Contact Availability from the menu. (If a joint member with another society, make sure you select the correct society from the drop-down menu).
- Select the relevant month.
- Open your availability calendar by clicking the Find button.
- Mark the dates you are available to referee.
You can specify whether you’re available for:
- All day
- Morning only
- Afternoon only
- Evening only
The Appointments Team uses this information when allocating fixtures, helping ensure appointments match both your availability and refereeing experience.
Appointments Process
Once you’ve updated your availability in Who’s the Ref (WTR), the Appointments Team will allocate suitable fixtures based on your availability and experience.
When you receive an appointment notification, please use the link provided in the email to accept or decline the fixture as soon as possible. It’s important that you do this without delay.
The host club should contact you directly to confirm match details and that the fixture is proceeding as scheduled. If you have not heard from the club a few days before the match, please contact the relevant member of the Appointments Team for assistance.
If a fixture is cancelled, the Appointments Team will make every effort to reappoint you to an alternative game on the same day wherever possible.
Mileage / Expenses
Mileage expenses are paid at £0.50 per mile and are calculated automatically through WTR. Before submitting a claim, please ensure your address is correct and your geocoordinates are set in your WTR account. Guidance on how to do this can be found in the Support Hub of WTR.
Before each payment run, you will receive an email asking you to review and confirm your mileage claims to ensure all details are accurate. Guidance on how to claim your expenses are in the WTR Support Hub. Please make sure you complete both processes ‘Entering Expenses’ and ‘Submitting Expenses.’
Payment Schedule
- Summer, September & October appointments → Paid in November
- December to February appointments → Paid in March
- March & April appointments → Paid in May
If you need to submit a claim outside of these payment periods, please contact finance@northmidsrefs.co.uk for assistance.
To ensure your travel claim is reimbursed promptly, you will need to notify the Society Treasurer Ian Moreton details of your up-to-date bank account:- finance@northmidsrefs.co.uk.
Exchange Appointments
If you are appointed to an exchange game with another society your expenses claim should be submitted to your home society in this case North Midlands and not to the treasurer of the society you visited.
Procedure
Go to the appointment in the normal way and select the appointment you wish to process for payment and click on the edit link to open the record as normal.
You will have a drop down “Claim From” menu showing all the orgs for which you have membership of or have visited. You must now select the correct org. This is NORTH MIDLANDS. Then save and proceed as you would normally do.
Failure to select the correct paying organisation could, at best, significantly delay the payment of expenses and may also incur a small admin fee as WTR will be required to unlock the incorrect claim.
Referee Protocols and Cancelled Matches
Clubs are instructed to confirm all fixtures with the appointed referee at least 72 hours before kick-off, either by phone, email or text message.
Please respond to any emails or text messages to confirm that you have received the information.
If a club has not contacted you within 48 hours of the match, please contact the relevant Society Appointments Officer for further guidance. Do not travel to a fixture unless it has been confirmed.
Should a match be cancelled, please ensure the appropriate people are informed: NMadmin@northmidsrefs.co.uk, the appropriate appointments officer and if appointed your Assistance Referees, Coach and / or Advisor
- Saturday Fixtures – Mike Jones
- Saturday Reappointments – Callum Crouch
- Sunday Fixtures – Alex Nock
- Midweek Fixtures – Phil Monaghan
If after confirming the game you travel to find the match has been cancelled and the club has not notified you, again inform the appointments officer and send an email to NMadmin@northmidsrefs.co.uk and to finance@northmidsrefs.co.uk
You are eligible to claim expenses when this occurs. This is important as we then notify the club so they can investigate what went wrong.
Contact Details
Clubs use the contact information stored in Who’s the Ref to confirm fixtures and communicate important match details. To ensure you’re contacted in the way that suits you best, please keep your profile and contact preferences up to date.
Simply click your name in the top-left corner of Who’s the Ref, select My Profile, and use the notepad icon to edit your details.