Emily Hodgkinson was amongst 28 young referees from Surrey who officiated at Wembley Stadium in the world’s biggest junior international tournament.
The Danone Nations Cup brought together 32 nations for the Final in London, the run-up to which featured 2.5m players from 10,000 clubs across the globe.
The referees’ weekend began at Surrey Sports Park on Friday September 6th as they took charge of several training matches – they were split in to teams of six, with one referee looking after the sportsmanship element of each fixture.
The officials, all aged between 18 to 30, then headed up to Wembley Stadium on Sunday September 8th for the matches that would see Team France crowned champions. The famous pitch at the home of English football was split in two, with the Surrey referees officiating in at least one game throughout the day – and were all unfazed by the presence of Danone Cup Ambassador and Ballon d’Or winner Zinedine Zidane.
“It was a very well-run competition and all the officials that took part were a credit to the Surrey County FA. They all worked well as a team and it was a great learning experience for them,” said Referees’ Manager Mark Wood.
Emily Hodgkinson was the only female official selected for the event and she commented;
“Refereeing at Wembley was an amazing, once in a lifetime, experience for anyone refereeing or assisting. I was lucky enough to be selected to referee the Plate final (3rd vs 4th). When I ran onto the pitch, the adrenaline rush was so intense and I was so nervous.
“The part I enjoyed the most was meeting the players of different countries and getting that experience of refereeing in that environment. Some of the teams such as the South Africans and the Czech Republic created a great atmosphere with their singing.”
Before this major event, local, regional, and national competitions took place over a period of six months, throughout 32 countries in the five continents. 2.5 million children from approximately 10,000 clubs and 32,000 schools played in these phases in 2013.
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