Hudson Valley Soccer Referee Association

Welcome to the Hudson Valley Soccer Referee Association!

Our organization is dedicated to educating, supporting and promoting the abilities of youth and adult soccer officials serving the Mid-Hudson Valley region.

Our mission is to:

1. Promote the general welfare of its membership;

2. Promote a better understanding of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) Laws of the Game among players, coaches, referees;

3. Provide its membership with information, instruction, and mentoring to improve their abilities in soccer officiating;

4. Encourage and support the members to upgrade with an avenue for upgrading under the USSF guidelines;

5. Recruit, train and support new referees.

We also require our members to adhere to the USSF Referee Code of Ethics. They are all equally important, and reads thusly:
 I will maintain the utmost respect for the game of soccer;  I will conduct myself honorably at all times and maintain dignity of my position;  I will always honor an assignment or any other contractual obligation;  I will attend training meetings and clinics so as to know the Laws of the Game, their proper interpretation and their application;  I will always strive to achieve maximum team work with my fellow officials;  I will be loyal to my fellow officials and never knowingly promote criticism of them;  I will be in good physical condition;  I will control the players effectively by being courteous and considerate without sacrificing fairness;  I will do the utmost to assist my fellow officials to better themselves and their work;  I will not make statements about any games except to clarify an interpretation of the Laws of the Game;  I will not discriminate against nor take undue advantage of any individual group on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin;  I consider it a privilege to be part of the US Soccer Federation and my actions will reflect credit upon that organization and its affiliates.

A video message about dissent and team official’s behavior

HVSRA board members Brian, Reinaldo and Alexa talk about dissent and how you the referee have the tools to manage dissent, and the support that our board gives you the referee.

2024 Referee Recertification is OPEN

Recertification has been opened by ENYSRC [as of 11/15/2023]. Please follow the instructions on the Recertification page of this website. There will be an in-person component to recertification.

Congratulations are in order to our very own…

Robert Sibiga, who was awarded 2021 MLS Referee of the year!

You can read the announcement on the MLS website

Enrico Romano, who was inducted to the Eastern New York Soccer Hall of Fame.

Enrico was the past president of HVSRA for many years and helped grow our membership to over 400 referees strong. His leadership throughout the region is well known and respected throughout the community.

Congratulations to both on their accomplishments!

Play-On and other reopening information

2020.09.04 Notice: We are looking forward to the Return to Play for our District in the coming weeks. HVSRA in joint concert with EHYSL has created a Health and Safety Protocol [English version, Spanish version] that we all must adhere to. In order to better explain this, we will be hosting four virtual educational forums. You are required to attend one of these events if you plan on officiating in our area at any time during the Fall, Winter, or Spring seasons of 2020/2021. Failing to attend may limit your ability to be assigned a match. Please go to the Calendar of Events for days and times. You can sign up by submitting your information on this attendance form. Thank you in advance.

HVSRA in the News - 2020.01.11

HVSRA welcomed USSF Instructors Emilie Buse and Brian Dunn to Marlboro High School, where 170 returning referees were provided 4 hours of instruction, working toward the completion of their recertification. 1 Regional, 9 Regional-Emeritus, and 160 Grassroots officials received their 2020 badges at the end of the learning session. 13 of our mentors and 4 of our board of directors were present for the event. We are well on our way to completing the recertifications for this year. Thanks to all who attended the event! Review our calendar for the next date and location in February. Special thanks to the staff at Marlboro HS for their continued support of our officials.

2019/2020 New Referee Pathway

To become a new referee, please referee to the New Officials page on this website. If you have any questions, please contact Rob Miller at rmill21julie@gmail.com or Brian Baer at president@hvsra.org. Thank you!

2019 Regional and National Fitness Test

On a cold and breezy Saturday afternoon (November 16) at the New Hyde Park High School (Long Island), 12 Regional, and 8 National officials performed the USSF fitness test. All in attendance passed the testing, including our own Rich Zayas, Andreas Santibanez, and Brian Baer. Congratulations to all!!!

A baker’s dozen of the ENY 2020 National and Regional fitness test finishers (a few of the national officials didn’t hang around for the group photo…they were too cold).

2019 Columbus Day Tournaments:

Another year, another round of fantastic matches at the Beekman and Poughkeepsie Columbus Day Tournaments. Over 75 referees officiated over 200 matches in two days. The weather cooperated this year, the players performed quite well, and all attendees had a massive amount of fun.

Members of the HVSRA tan-knee society in a pre-chorus line at the Beekman Columbus Day tournament.

32 new recruits joined the HVSRA team on the weekend of March 30/31 at the East Fishkill Community Center. Thanks to all involved, especially instructors: Rob, Brian, Michael, Dave, John, and Jason.

Our primary mission as the Hudson Valley Soccer Referee Association (HVSRA), is to educate and promote its members to become better soccer officials. With our new board of directors installed last year, it was imperative to launch a robust mentorship program to grow, maintain, and retain membership. With 123 new referees since September 2018 (111 between 14-18 years of age), many did not have the chance to officiate a match. In previous editions of the Shamrock Cup Tournament, our members donated their time to officiate the youth matches that occur during the weekend. Our long standing partnership with Kicking Back to Give Back (KBtGB) of their primary fundraising event, created a superb environment to teach our newest officials the fine craft of soccer refereeing.

22 new referees, supported by 12 mentors, officiated 86 matches over the course of the Tournament. While most of the officials were anxious for their first match, their abilities progressed exponentially during their 3-4 hour shift.

The new officials found the experience rewarding and supportive in a competitive and non-result oriented environment. The mentors observed the officials grow significantly from first game to last; their abilities, confidence and courage increasing with each match.

HVSRA will continue to support KBtGB with their mission, strengthening our collaboration with the development of socially responsible student/athletes and student/referees. HVSRA will be back next year...to give back.