Teenage Peterborough referee sees international action and he’s hungry for more

And Peterborough-based Jakub Komisarczyk earned good feedback from the Football Association for his performance with the whistle at the plush Englans training centre at St George’s Park.

Now he hopes he will be allocated some more big occasions.

“The game was very good and enjoyable,” said the Stamford College sport student.

“It was a really professional experience and it showed me aninsight of how they do it higher up in the game.

“My future ambitions now are to keep getting promoted, keep learning and keep progressing.”

A goalkeeper as a junior, Jakub started playing when he was seven years old with city-based teams Woodston Dynamos and Phoenix FC.

He was also selected for West Bromwich Albion’s Academy as a 10 year old, which involved playing in tournaments all over Europe.

But at 14 he turned his talents to another aspect of football.

“I didn’t see a future in playing so I decided to swap to refereeing so that I could still be a part of the game’” Jakub added.

“And I really enjoy pretty much everything about refereeing.

“It teaches me a lot of life skills that I can use in the working world as well as on the pitch.

“You have your bad days sometimes, but you just have to overcome them to progress.”

After a couple of years of training and courses and refereeing in the local junior leagues, Jakub became one of the youngest officials in England ever to take charge of a senior game - just a day after his 16th birthday.

Jakub has been part of Peterborough Referees Association Development Programme for two years.

For the last 18 months has been been selected to learn from experienced referees and improve his skills on a programme with Northamptonshire FA.

This summer he is hoping to take the opportunity to build on his experience by refereeing in Spain.

“He will be a level five referee next season, which is very good for his age,” said father Rafal, a former semi-professional footballer, who is also a Peterborough League referee and coach.

“We are really proud of what he has achieved.

“He’s very good at reading the game and has progressed very quickly.

“Refereeing is hard, but he is a strong character with enough confidence now to do the job.

“At local clubs most people know I’m his dad, but at other games they don’t, so when I’m watching I hear all the comments and abuse from parents and coaches and that’s hard to take.

“A lot of young referees stop because of the grief people give them.

“Referees are only human and they won’t make everyone happy all the time.”