Dyspraxia Awareness Week - Ali Wilson's refereeing story

Whilst many people have heard of dyspraxia, most do not understand what it really is.

Ali explained: "It's a condition which affects coordination and motor skills and there are a lot of tasks people with dyspraxia struggle to cope with, from physical tasks to handwriting. Whilst I technically don't have dyspraxia, I have a chromosome deletion which is similar to dyspraxia in that it shows through the same symptoms.

"All of these symptoms can have a huge impact on young people with dyspraxia and often stops their association with sport very early on in their life."

Ali, 20, has been sport-obsessed his entire life and, although he did play football at school, he became disconnected from playing around the age of 10, but he spotted a potential opportunity to get back on the pitch during careers week at secondary school.

"I was asked 'What do you want to do when you grow up?', and I knew I wanted to do something in sport, and ideally something individual where I can adapt it for my condition. I then had the lightbulb moment that refereeing was perfect for me – I’ve always enjoyed running and keeping fit, so refereeing was the perfect way to keep this up but also get that connection with football again.

“I didn’t tell anybody at first as I was conscious of people thinking I was living in a fantasy world and being frightened that I couldn’t deal with the challenge of refereeing, but when I eventually told my parents they were really supportive and I haven’t looked back since.”

Ali has progressed quickly and only four years on from that lightbulb moment, he has already officiated a Westmorland FA County Cup Final, and has been an assistant referee in the Women’s FA Cup.

In addition to his work on the pitch, Ali has been involved in mentoring and coaching match officials at Westmorland FA, which Peter says has been invaluable.

“Ali is up for anything and he has been really useful within our development work, watching videos of referees coming through the system and writing reports to ensure we can give them good feedback and help them progress. Due to Ali’s chromosome deletion, he can struggle to get out onto the pitch during the winter, but the work he does in supporting the next set of referees during that period more than makes up for it.”

Ali’s work extends beyond Westmorland and, alongside Peter, he established a Dyspraxia Referee course which first took place in Nottingham last year.

“The course is effectively the same, but with adaptations to ensure participants are comfortable,” Ali said.

“In practice, that means we're putting more breaks in and adapting the timing of certain parts of the course. For example, in the standard course you're in the classroom for a couple of hours, then outside for a couple more, but in the dyspraxia course, we break these sessions down into smaller chunks to ensure the participants are getting plenty of rest. Ultimately, however, it is important to stress that it still contains all the elements of the standard course and participants are coming out as referees - not ‘dyspraxic referees’."

Reflecting on the first delivery of the course, Peter said: “Whilst it was a fairly small number of people who came onto the course, our view is that it was absolutely worth it.

“If the course wasn’t there, I think pretty much everyone who attended would have dropped out of the game very early on and just gone back to being a fan, which is heartbreaking. We received great backing from Westmorland FA and The FA which enabled us to put the course on and, whilst the numbers are always likely to be relatively small, we know we are doing the right thing for the game.”

Ali and Peter, with support from the FA Reflective and Representative campaign, are now looking to expand the course out to a bigger audience and include people with a wider range of neurodivergent conditions, and the early stages of preparation are well underway.

Ali said: “Within 24 hours of contacting football club community organisations about hosting the course, I already had 10 responses saying they were interested – so watch this space!”

Ali was recognised in two categories at the 2026 Referee Recognition Awards, winning the Championing Diversity category and Highly Commended in Refereeing in the Community. This was of little surprise to Peter.

“I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as Ali,” he said.

“He takes refereeing incredibly seriously and puts in a level of commitment that is worthy of the semi-professional and professional level. When he first started, he struggled to get around a 9v9 pitch, but now I see him knocking out 10km runs with ease! We’ve had discussions about the fitness test and the pathway, and I don’t see any reason why he couldn’t get through it.

“I look at someone like Ali and it shows that there is no barrier for people to get into refereeing. Take that first step and find the format for you – you never know where it can take you.”

After such a swift journey up the refereeing ladder, Ali has big ambitions for the future.

“I’ve already refereed in the Women’s FA Cup, and I’m knocking on the door of Step 5 and 6 having run the line a few times in pre-season at that level. I’m also looking at the international pathway through disability competitions and then, who knows, I’d love to get to the EFL one day!”