MLS Referee Crew Officiates & Mentors NCFC Youth Games
RALEIGH, N.C. (March 13th, 2024) – WRAL Soccer Park was recently home to a Major League Soccer referee crew as Jason White, Ryan Graves, and Justin Howard officiated a NCFC Youth game this past Saturday.
Director of Referees, Brian Miller, stated, “A full crew of MLS officials officiating a youth game has only occurred a handful of times since the inception of Major League Soccer 25-years ago. The willingness of 11-year MLS veteran Jason White, newly minted FIFA Assistant Referee Ryan Graves, and highflier Justin Howard to give back to the youth game, which got them their start in officiating, is a testament to the character of these true professionals. The fact they chose NCFC Youth to share their abilities with is a testament to the quality of officials within our organization. The desire of NCFC Youth officials to learn from the best and the generosity of Jason, Ryan, and Justin to share their knowledge with the next generation of officials made last Saturday a perfect pairing. NCFC Youth’s support of its referees along with its extremely positive relationships with the NCSRA and the PSRA allowed this truly special opportunity to occur. We look forward to continuing to bring MLS officials to NCFC Youth fields in the future.”
Following the game, all three mentored other referees on site for the remainder of the day – a reminder of our continued commitment to referee education.
“Justin, Ryan, and I thoroughly enjoyed working a U17 match together and sticking around to mentor some referees on a couple other matches,” stated Jason White “As we were discussing beforehand, the match took us back to the good ol' days - driving 2-3 hours each way, changing in the parking lot, and doing the match not for the money but for the camaraderie and the love of the game. All 3 of us have been very fortunate to make it to MLS level and, in Ryan's case, being named to the FIFA international panel as an Assistant Referee. We achieved our successes because of so many people who took time to mentor and guide us along our refereeing journeys. Giving back in this way is a huge part of what the Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA) is all about.”
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