CCF has delivered the same ultimatum to CCRFRI before - come under our banner or we'll hire our own referees and won't allow CCFRI referees to be appointed. This came a number of seasons ago, but that stick came with a carrot - promising that they'd throw about $40k towards the referees association to hire a full-time person in charge of referee development, and that a CCF board member would sit on the CCFRI board (can't remember if it was the same in reverse as well). Left with no choice whatsoever from this arrogant, aggressive proposal, we submitted (and I'm sure CCF were dancing around the office - they've been trying hard to take over CCFRI since before I started reffing, over 10 years ago).
Of course, this was the season when CCF were found to be heavily in debt, and couldn't deliver on the money they promised. A lot of referees were angry - and rightly so - at the blatant lies and arrogance shown by CCF, but as they broke the contract we were able to tell them to take a walk.
Since then there's obviously been some big changes, with Darren Sprod taking over CCF and a few other referee directors jumping to 'the dark side', but I heard some of them left since. Regardless, from what I understand, Darren saw a take-over of CCFRI by CCF as inevitable, especially given that such a structure was stipulated under the Crawford Report, IIRC. CCF/CCFRI were one of the few remaining separated organisations.
Personally, I hated the idea (not that I'm on the coast anymore, but I still take an interest in what's happening) - CCF have often dealt with referees in a manner that could be described as contemptuous at worst (don't get me started on the judiciary!!) , or ignorant of the issues surrounding referees at best. With the attitudes CCF have repeated displayed towards CCFRI over the years, it was widely believed that a takeover would be the worst possible thing for the referees.
Going back to what I said about Darren seeing a takeover as inevitable, I believe he then wanted to take the opportunity, whilst in power, to set up the new structure in a way that would benefit referees interests as much as possible, as a future director may well either not care or not like referees (something that seems to be a common attitude in the past throughout the CCF directorship), so from what I've heard he felt that doing it now, with him able to oversee the merge, was in the long-term best interest.
I'm not sure of the details (or even if Sprod is still involved), but sometimes change is inevitable.
As for the large intake of new referees - CCFRI have been taking in 60+ new members for quite a few years when I was still involved, yet the numbers seemed to remain constant at around the 200 mark (after a rapid increase after about 12 years ago), with a smaller number of that being active members. An interesting observation, and having too many referees is a bad thing for the referees themselves, as then each member gets fewer games and may then turn to more productive ways to spend their weekend, so a balance is needed - but we've been able to achieve 90-100% coverage of games for periods of time only a few seasons ago.
Of course, having such a large intake means there's going to be 80 referees running around in a few weeks who barely know what they're doing, but it's oh-so-easy to condemnt from the sidelines. Go easy; these guys are doing their best and abusing the referees, either experienced or inexperienced, is only going to harm the game as it drives referees away.
Chances are, most of those 80 referees will quit within a few seasons, but a few may stick around longer - and some may show some particular talent. The referees as a whole have improved steadily since I joined, partly as a result of the introduction of certain new members, partly due to changes in management, and partly due to structural and organisational changes necessary to deal with the significantly increased numbers.
Getting referees to training sessions, even meetings, has always been a big challenge - so I don't know what they've done to accomplish this, but it seems like a great thing that referees are attending these sessions in numbers.
Of course some members left; unfortunately, some of those are probably the more experienced ones who have been around long enough to see what low regard CCF has always held its referees in. If everything I've talked about is correct, then perhaps now is the best time for an inevitable takeover, for better or for worse.
If things turn out worse, then as CCF members you can pressure your club delegates to start demanding answers and demanding change - or respond through the ballot at the next AGM.
