Norton manager Conrad Hillerby says that he will seriously consider quitting management if the standard of refereeing in the league doesn’t improve soon.

Hillerby is furious with some of the officiating of his team’s matches in recent weeks, and he is calling for an immediate improvement. Significantly, he isn’t the only manager who has complained about referees recently, as Bishop Auckland manager Colin Myers and Ryton boss Dave Hagan have also spoken publicly about their concerns.

“In my football career, I’ve come through a coaching background so I think I understand referees, I know that they have a difficult job,” he said.

“But lately, I’ve been shaking my head in disbelief at some of the things that have been going on. I really feel that instead of playing the opposition, we’re playing the referee as well.

“There have been four or five officials in our last fifteen games who have been dreadful and have ruined the game with some bad decisions. Last year, I hardly noticed that the referee was on the field, but it’s so different this season.

“We had an incident in a recent game in which we had a player booked for a shirt tug as an opposition player was breaking towards the penalty area – but then there was a similar incident at the other end and the referee told us that he wasn’t going to show a yellow card because the player had already been booked.

“ In another game, the referee actually overruled his assistant regarding a throw in when the referee said the ball was out of play with the assistant in the correct position, and when that happens, you wonder why we bother with assistants.

“Some referees have got themselves into bad positions to make decisions, and others simply arrogantly won’t talk to you or explain decisions. And some of them lose complete control – in one game last month, the referee seemed to be booking everybody.

“I coach on Sundays, and when I go to games, I see the same officials in parks that I do in the Northern League – are we becoming a Sunday morning league now?

“The Northern League is a very good standard of football. We have some good officials – we had a very good one that kept up with play very well at Penrith earlier in the season – but on the other hand, there are some bad ones and you wonder how they’ve managed to stay on the referees’ list. Good referees let the game flow, manage people properly and have a good concept of the game. Others, I’m afraid, don’t. Some seem to be thrust upon us without very little experience of the game at this level.”

Hillerby has been a manager in the league for four years, having lifted Norton to their best league position ever, as well as guiding them on good runs in the FA Cup and FA Vase.

“To me, it’s all building up to a crescendo. I’m not enjoying my football as much nowadays, and I dread to see who’s going to be officiating in our matches. If we have another five or six bad referees, then I might just think about packing in.”