On Thursday 25th May, the Bedfordshire FA hosted 100 referees at Century House for the Bedfordshire Referees’ Association Centenary Awards & Bedfordshire FA Referee Awards 2023. 

The event celebrated the Bedfordshire Referees’ Association being in existence for 100 years and was also used to recognise the successes of referees through the Bedfordshire FA Referee Awards.

There were seven award categories that were presented on the evening to the following referees:

Referee of the Year
Alex Francioni

Young Referee of the Year
Sebastian Bayliss

Match Official of the Year
Teddy Davies

Most Promising Referee of the Year
Charlie Hawkes

15-Year Service Award
Chris O’Donnell
Paul Lempriere
Babatunde Ajisola
Bradley Hallybone
Mark Bright
Brian Cooper

30-Year Service Award
Jonathan Brown
Nicholas Brown
Andrew Masson
Colin Sinden
Kelvin Thomspon

50-Year Service Award
Ralph Morris

In recognition of outstanding services to refereeing
David Snaith
Robert Leonard

There were also awards presented by the Chiltern Youth Football League and the Bedfordshire County Football League to the three referees below for outstanding performance this season:

Chiltern Youth Football League Referee of The Year (AM)
Annie Scott

Chiltern Youth Football League Referee of The Year (PM)
Timothy Patis

Bedfordshire County Football League Referee of the Year
Marcus Baxter

Richard Everitt presented the Bedfordshire Referees’ Association with a shield on behalf of the Bedfordshire FA to mark the occasion and as a thank you for all of the support they have given to referees in the county over the years.

We were also very fortunate to have FIFA and Premier League referee, Darren England as a guest speaker on the evening. Darren presented the award winners with their prizes and delivered a fantastic presentation that gave an insight into his career to date as well as what it takes to make it to the top level.

The evening was a great success and a fantastic way to finish the 2022/2023 season. Congratulations once again to all of the award winners on a fantastic season and we look forward to next season!