“We need you,” he said.

“We’ve got in excess of 30 senior teams now, and we just don’t have enough people officiating. We’re calling on anyone who used to referee to come back and help out, or anyone interested in being a senior referee to let us know, and we can get you trained.”

According to Mileto, there is approximately 10 whistleblowers available to officiate across three grades.

A boom in popularity for the sport, combined with the extinction of the Western Premier League after the 2012 season, has led to a huge increase in player numbers.

“With no WPL they had to go somewhere,” Mileto said.

“Soccer has just become a much more popular sport, one reason is definitely that we cater to over 35s as well. I’d say conservatively we need about 10 more referees. It’s not a voluntary thing, you get paid so hopefully that’s a bit more incentive. We’ll also put anyone interested through the necessary courses.”

Anyone interested should call ODFA administrator Brett Hazzard on 0437 034 594, or contact Tony Mileto on tonymileto@bigpond.com.au