Referee of the Month: Anson Dai
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 March 2026 Referee of the Month is Anson Dai.
Questions & Answers:
Q: Current Referee Level & Highest level attained:
A: The highest and current referee level I have attained is youth referee. I have officiated as an assistant referee for APDL games and an ACAC game.
Q: When did you begin, and what motivated you to start refereeing?
A: I started refereeing back in 2023 and did my first game on June 13th 2023. There were many factors motivating me to start refereeing. I think two of the biggest factors were the challenge and the growth of personal character through being a referee, and the other being that I thought I could do better than other refs and let people enjoy a good ref in their game.
Q: What has been your most enjoyable game/memory of your referee career?
A: I have three games that I enjoyed the most. One being the ACAC game I filled in for my dad, the other being two final games for the Foothills Junior Cup and my first APDL game. These games were really memorable as it was my first time being an assistant referee for ACAC and APDL and my first time having an assistant referee.
Q: What do you love most about refereeing?
A: The thing I love most about refereeing is the excitement of soccer itself and your work being noticed and appreciated. Since I also play soccer it's fun to view the game from a different perspective and learn from it.
Q: What advice would you give to somebody just starting out refereeing?
A: Some advice I would give to someone who is starting out refereeing is to ask yourself and others on how you could improve and then tackle the problem. If you can accept your own mistakes and grow from it you would get really good at refereeing.
Q: What do you do outside of refereeing and what are some of your interests?
A: Outside of refereeing I also play club soccer, piano and of course video games. We've just won the CMSA league and silver at provincials this season. For piano I am RCM 10 which is basically the highest graded level of piano in the Royal Conservatory of Music.