Our Southern League clubs, Chatham Town, Dartford and Sittingbourne get their league campaign's underway on Saturday, but one thing is for sure the match officials that officiate their games will be able to keep up with them, writes Stephen McCartney. And in his column in the Non League Paper, referee Ian Lamont gave an insight of what fitness levels match officials in the Ryman and Southern Leagues have to maintain. "Someone asked me this week what was the distance a Premiership assistant referee had to cover in his fitness test and what time did he have to achieve it in? "Although he reckoned he had found a time for 1997, he and I were both stumped as to what the answer was. "However, what I can tell you is that Level 4 referees (those wanting to officiate at Ryman/Southern/Unibond and above) have to do the following: A test that involved sprinting 50 metres in no more than 7.5 seconds, a rest of 15 minutes, then a 200m sprint in 32sec, then 15 minutes rest, then repeat that and at the end run for 12 minutes completing a minimum distance of 2,700m. "If that doesn't sound too strenuous to footballers, I can assure you that there are plenty of referees who do not achieve it the first time. "Like any sort of test, you have to be prepared and it is not as easy to motivate yourself or push yourself at the required rate if you are working out on your own as opposed to training in a group, like more senior football teams in non-league will do at least twice a week. "As one slogan has it, be fit to referee, not referee to keep fit.  If you have that the wrong way around you will struggle to keep up with play. "It is also much easier to make accurate decisions if you are up with play.  In addition, if players can see you are off the pace, they are more likely to try sly tricks. "Going back to Premiership assistants, the further up the pyramid you go the more noticeable it will be if you are fit enough or not. "To reach the top, you may well have to combine a full-time job with travelling many miles midweek to officiate at matches. "But there is help the further you go up - and if you reach the elite group of Premiership referees there is help on a plate. "At their fortnightly meetings, those 20-odd referees are given a personal fitness and diet programme to take away with various bits of technology to monitor their progress.  They can telephone the person who has given it to them when they are back home whenever they like. "Thus they are given every chance to match the ever-increasing speed of the modern game."