Soccer fields have been almost like a second home to Brian Marshall over the years.
He started out as a player in his home state of Pennsylvania and went into refereeing as a teen. Now, at 34, he has moved up the ranks of referees.
“I played when I was growing up. I played in college,” said Marshall, who works as Columbia County’s sales and promotions manager and is also part of the Professional Referee Organization, which has two tiers of professional referees.
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Marshall, who grew up with two soccer-playing siblings, spent a lot of time at soccer fields and weekend tournaments, often with some major downtime.
“I was stuck at the field,” he said.
He wanted something to do besides cheer from the sidelines, so he got involved in refereeing some of the youth games.
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While at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa., Marshall was able to use his knowledge of the rules of the game to help his team.
“The coach would ask me questions. I had already officiated for a couple of years,” he said.
After an injury to his ACL sidelined him, he was able to delve more into the rulebook. He said he started thinking about how to continue with the game when his playing time was done. He wanted to still be able to support soccer and its athletes in a meaningful way.
In his career in Columbia County, he works to attract soccer tournaments to the area. In May, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics men’s national soccer championships were held at Blanchard Park, and in June, the NJCAA Division I and II women’s soccer championships were also held in Columbia County.
He also helps recruit officials for games such as the Columbia County Cup, a youth tournament for children in Under-8 through Under-19 teams, that will be held Aug. 27-29 at Blanchard Woods and Patriots Park.
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Marshall’s professional refereeing has put him at collegiate matches and at the United Soccer League level. The USL is a professional men’s soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation as a Division II professional league. He’s also officiated an MLS pre-season game and a qualifying game for the U.S. Women’s Olympic team.
Walking onto a professional soccer field was a dream of his, he said.
Marshall said he’s excited to see where the sport has come from in the United States and where it’s heading.
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“There’s been a tremendous amount of growth and investment,” he said.
He’s excited to see arenas filled with people such as a recent Atlanta United game with 70,000 people in the stands and new stadiums being built exclusively for the sport.
He said he hopes that others will follow his lead and find a niche in refereeing as the sport continues to grow.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
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