Referee of the Month: Andrew Sennyah
The CDSRA Referee of the Month features referees of different ages, levels, and backgrounds to reflect the diversity in our referee community and our association. Our September 2025 Referee of the Month is Andrew Sennyah.
Questions & Answers:
Q: Current Referee Level & Highest level attained:
A: District (Regional upgrade)
Q: When did you begin, and what motivated you to start refereeing?
A: I started refereeing in 2022, I was looking to keep myself active after the pandemic and earn a little extra cash. But the biggest motivation was my grandfather who was a referee, I still have his Law Book from the 1976-1977 season on my bookshelf. (P.S. the offside law hasn't changed much since the 70's).
Q: What has been your most enjoyable game/memory of your referee career?
A: The two most memorable games for me have happened in the past year. The first was refereeing the Boys U-15 Gold Medal game at the 2024 Tier 1 Provincials. Being selected for a Gold Medal game is certainly one of the highlights of Provincials especially when the game leads to a Nationals.
The second one was supporting my crew as the Fourth Official in the 2025 Boys U-17 Gold Medal game at the 2025 Tier 1 Provincials. The game had everything, a comeback, red cards, mass confrontation, a last-minute penalty and a pitch invasion.
Andrew with his crew on the 2025 Boys U-17 Gold Medal Game
Q: What do you love most about refereeing?
A: The community is one of the best things about refereeing, you get to meet people at different stages of their referee careers but also in life and makes for great conversation and camaraderie.
Q: When did you first become a CDSRA member and what encouraged you to join?
A: I became a member of CDSRA in 2023. I was convinced to join by my mentor, Jordan Whittier and by Laurie Darvill who thought I could grow my skills from the CDSRA sessions and it’s probably one of the best things I’ve done.
Q: What advice would you give to somebody just starting out refereeing?
A: Get out of the way of the ball!
But in all seriousness pick up as much as you can from different referees. Each referee has their own strengths whether it is positioning, player management, foul calls or match control – learn as much as you can what they do on the field (including ARs).
Andrew getting out of the way of the ball
Q: What do you do outside of refereeing and what are some of your interests?
A: My day job keeps me relatively busy with quite a bit of travel, so I get to see different parts of Canada but when I’m in Calgary I’m a bit of a foodie and I love trying different restaurants. I also love watching soccer - can't blame a ref for that.