Over the last few weeks, we saw the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) put away their whistles and cards and swap them for maps. The purpose? To use orienteering as a tool to keep EFL and Development Group officials mentally sharp and physically fit, while pushing them out of their comfort zones.
With refereeing being an art that can’t easily be practiced outside of match situations, Francis from the PGMO felt that orienteering offered the perfect mix of mental challenge and physical activity, all essential attributes needed for officiating.
Each referee was placed into a team of six, with three courses set around the University of Warwick campus. The groups were then split into pairs, and each pair was given a different map. The aim was to reach all 22 controls, including one compulsory control, within a 45-minute time limit. To make things even tougher, the compulsory control featured a clip from a football match that referees had to memorise for a later classroom exercise.
This added another layer of pressure for the teams, not only did they have to navigate their way around the campus, but they also had to recall the match footage accurately afterwards.
The whistle blew and teams were off, strategizing and planning the most efficient route. With many taking part in orienteering for the first time, it was a level playing field. The winning pair completed the challenge in an impressive 32 minutes and 12 seconds.
The idea came about when Francis reached out to Keith from the local orienteering club, Octavian Droobers, whose team helped plan and deliver the event to the highest standard, offering professional insight into the benefits of the sport.
Here’s what Keith had to say:
"It started with a speculative email from PGMOL about four weeks before the event. They had been thinking about how they could introduce something a bit different into their training programme for match officials and had come across orienteering at the university in some footage and thought it might be a possibility. They just emailed the info@ address for OD, and I immediately felt that we could put something together for them. On our first chat, I mentioned that at every level, orienteering is an interplay between physical and mental challenge under competitive stress. Little did I know that I had struck a perfect chord because that is exactly how they see the challenges for match official teams in football's top level. They also said that referees, assistant referees, fourth officials and VAR work as a team so could we incorporate a teamworking element. Spotting an opportunity, my immediate answer was yes without having any idea how to do so. A score of some sort seemed appropriate to fit into their programme. It quickly boiled down to a 45-minute 6-person team score based on 3 pairs. Sounds simple but not as straightforward as it seemed. PGMOL is a very professional outfit and, while OD could put together a suitable activity for them, it would be better for the sport if we could put up a more professional front than the club could manage which is why I contacted BOF. The rest, as they say, is history."
More Blog Posts
Night Orienteering for beginners
1 December 2025
Scottish Students 2025
1 December 2025
