The potential referees’ strike which threatened this weekend’s senior football fixtures has been averted followed positive talks between the Isle of Man Football Association and the Isle of Man Referees Society.

Saturday’s fixtures in the Premier League, Division Two plus the combination leagues and Sunday’s Women’s and Masters games were thrown into doubt earlier this week.

But an emergency meeting took place on Wednesday evening in a bid to avoid any mass postponements and it now appears as if most of this weekend’s games will go ahead, weather permitting.

In a joint statement later that evening, the IoMFA and Referees Society said: ‘Representatives from both the Isle of Man FA and the Isle of Man Referees Society have held a productive meeting today.

‘The importance of aligning a referee progression and development model with the national framework set by The FA was agreed.

‘A new referee working group will be established to help drive the Isle of Man FA referees strategy.

‘Both the Isle of Man FA and the Isle of Man Referee Society are working in collaboration to maximise referee coverage for all fixtures this coming weekend.’