BAMRef Referee Support Group

BAMRef Referee Support Group are a voluntary led organisation made up of officials & allies who are passionate about changing the face of officiating. Since their inception in 2018/19 Season, they have lobbied and worked with national bodies (FA & PGMOL) to address the historic underrepresentation of Black, Asian and Mixed heritage officials in football. BAMRef Support have grown a membership of over 500 officials who are able to access advocacy and support from a body that represents them and their needs. BAM Ref collaborated with and self-funded two national conferences at Villa Park & Wembley in 2022 and 2023, which saw over 250 people attend and gained national press coverage with Howard Webb, Mark Bullingham and Tony Burnett as keynote speakers. Their exponential growth in membership is the last 2 years is not surprising given their growing stature within the officiating world and their significant contributions that led to Black Referee Sam Allison making his Premier League Debut in December 2023 following Uriah Rennie who retired 15years ago and the recent debut in the Premier League of Sunny Gill-Singh as the first British Referee of South Asian decent in March 2024. Recently, they have collaborated on CORE X (A targeted initiative operated by PGMOL & FA) to address historic underrepresentation's in officiating and start the prepaaration for the next future talents from the historically underrepresented communities.