Appointing Process

County Cup fixtures are made by the Middlesex County Football Association (Middlesex FA). This season there are two appointment officers and the competitions appointments are overseen by the Referee Development Committee at Middlesex FA. 

Availability

Match Officials must control their availability via the Centre Circle App. This app is how Middlesex FA manage the administration for all County Cup fixtures in respect of Match Officials. By default, match officials are not available and it is down to the referees to make themselves available. If you are not sure how to make yourself available, please click HERE. Match officials will only be appointed if they are showing available, so if you are not available then please do not open your date. 

Confirming / Rejecting Your Fixture

Upon us appointing you to a fixture, the Centre Circle App will automatically send you a notification to your phone informing you of this, it will then ask you to confirm your fixture or reject your fixture. 

- Confirming Your Fixture

To confirm the fixture, simply select the Green Confirm button on the screen. 

- Rejecting Your Fixture

Based on the fact that you have the correct post code set on the system and your distance that your willing to travel is set correctly in your profile and you have managed your availability correctly then the only reason that you should have to reject the fixture is because you have a fixture that is higher in the Order of Precedence. If this is the case, please mention this in your rejection reason detailing the fixture that you have. For information about the order of precedence, you can view this below. Also there is a video that you can view to show you how to correctly reject a fixture HERE. 

Order or Precedence

(a) Registered Referees shall not officiate in any Competition, which is not sanctioned, or match in which unaffiliated clubs compete. 

(b) The “Order of Precedence” of appointments, whether as a Referee or Assistant Referee shall be as follows: 

(1) The FA Challenge Cup Competition and The FA Women’s Challenge Cup Competition (Fourth Round Proper onwards); 

(2) The Premier League, WSL and The FA Women’s League Cup; 

(3) EFL, Step 1, Step 2 List competitions and WCH; 

(4) The FA Challenge Trophy Competition; 

(5) The FA Challenge Vase Competition; 

(6) Affiliated Association nominated Senior Cup Competitions. 

(7) The FA Youth, FA County Youth Challenge Cup Competitions and The FA Women’s Challenge Cup (prior to Fourth Round Proper); 

(8) Step 3/4 Leagues, the Women’s National League and Cup (Tier 3/4), Inter League Cup and FA Sunday Cup; 

(9) Step 5/6 Leagues (including selected Step 7 divisions); 

(10) Senior County Leagues (men’s game) and Regional Leagues (tier 5/6) (women’s game); 

(11) Intermediate County League; 

(12) County Junior Leagues (men’s and women’s); and 

(13) All other competitions, including Youth Competitions. 

* Affiliated Association appointments only take precedence over National League System, The FA Youth and FA County Youth Challenge Cup Competitions appointments if the appointment is in the Affiliated Association’s nominated Senior Cup Competition or in the Semi-final and/or Final of any other Affiliated Association Competition whether the appointment is as a Referee or an Assistant Referee. 

** Fourth Officials where appointed do not form part of the Order of Precedence and usually do not take precedence over an active appointment. 

(c) Referees must attend personal hearings when required to do so. At Step 3/4 Leagues or above Match Officials’ appointments already received, take precedence over requests to attend personal hearings. On receipt of notification of a personal hearing Referees must close the date with all appropriate competitions. 

(d) Where release from an appointment is required to enable a Referee to take a more senior appointment at least four days’ notice must be given to the relevant Affiliated Association or competition by the association or competition requesting the release. Where fewer than four days’ notice is given, The Association or Competition must obtain permission from the Affiliated Association or Competition for the Referee to be released.

(e) Once The Association or an Affiliated Association has appointed a Match Official if, subsequently, the match is postponed, abandoned or results in a draw and the rearranged fixture is then scheduled to take place less than four complete days from the date of the original match, The Association or Affiliated Association appointment will take priority over any other appointment already accepted by the Referee from a competition lower in the order of precedence, unless The Association or Affiliated Association waive their right to the services of the match official so appointed. 

(f) “Fourth Officials” are appointed to certain rounds of FA Competitions, Premier League, EFL and National League matches and associated Competitions. The duties and responsibilities of the Fourth Official are detailed in the Laws of the Game and in the Competition Rules. Such appointments form part of the Order of Precedence within the Competitions listed above. 

(g) Reserve Assistant Referees may only be appointed in FA, Premier League and EFL Competitions, with the approval of The Association. They have no duties other than to replace an official who is unable to officiate. 

(h) With the exception of appointments made by The Association, Referees must obtain permission from their Parent Association (or County Association), or The Association in order to officiate in matches outside the United Kingdom. 

After Confirming Your Appointment

Once you have confirmed your appointment, the appointment for your game will be uploaded to FA Full Time. At this time the two clubs participating in the fixture will be notified about your appointment and will be in touch with you to confirm the pre-match details that should reach you no later than 5 days before the fixture is due to take place.