Pensra History Pre 2007
There is evidence that there was a Peninsula Soccer Referees group in 1979. A plaque commemorating a visit from Ken Aston exists. Ken Aston was a noted English FIFA Referee. He developed the red and yellow card system. He was instrumental in developing the AYSO refereeing program. There is a website detailing his accomplishments.
Redwood Youth Soccer League
In 2007, the Redwood Youth Soccer League replaced a team registration software that was based on Lotus Notes 3. The Lotus Notes system was used for the Redwood, Abronzino, Delgado and Alvarez competitive youth soccer leagues. The new software from the RidgeStar company included a referee assigning capability. This was the start of the redwoodsoccer.org website.
Redwood League was part of District 2. District 2 is part of California Youth Soccer Association (CYSA or CY). CYSA is part of the Unitied States Youth Soccer Assocaition (USYSA). USYSA is part of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). Redwood League was the compettive soccer league (Class 3 League) in the northern part of District 2. Delgado was the Class 3 League in the rest of Distric 2. Alvarez was the Class 3 League in District 1 (San Franisco). Abronzino was the Class 1 League for both District 1 and District 2.
In the early 2000's, "CY" soccer dominated compeitive soccer. AYSO dominated recreational soccer. Competitive teams started at U11. In the mid 2000's, NorCal Premier, affiliated with USClub Soccer, started to offer leagues for competitive soccer.
Redwood League was comprised of around a dozen clubs. Each club had their own referees and own referee assigning system. The clubs included: Alpine, Belmont, Belmont Oaks, Burlingame, Half Moon Bay, Juventus, Madera Roja, MP Strikers (MP = mid peninsula or Menlo Park), Palo Alto, Peninsula, Ravenswood, San Andreas, San Carlos, San Mateo, Stanford. Most assigned by phone and email. Juventus had a sophisticated web based application.
Starting around 2009, referee assigning was incorporated into the Redwoodsoccer.org website. However, USClub affiliated teams also wanted to use the referee assigning services. Referees and assignors worked for both Redwood CYSA teams and USClub affiliated teams. As the Redwood League is affiliated with CYSA, it was deemed inappropriate for the redwoodsoccer.org website to be used in conjunction with USClub teams.
The referee assigning functionality was moved to a separate website, www.pensra.org. The referee assigning website grew to be used by AYSO, tournaments, middle school leagues, NorCal Clubs, San Francisco based youth recreational leagues and Police Activities Leagues. With this growth, the Peninsula Soccer Referee Association became an independent entity.
Peninsula Soccer Referee Association
In 2015, Pensra split from Redwood League and became a California corporation. In 2018, Pensra obtained 501(c)3 non-profit status. Redwood League and Pensra entered into a Memorandum of Understanding that gave Redwood League preferential treatment by Pensra. The Memorandum of Understanding expired in 2021 and has been extended annually through 2024.
Pensra expanded to include adult matches around 2017.
Pensra (with San Francisco Youth Soccer) ran a referee summer camp in 2019,
Pensra (with San Francisco Youth Soccer and SAY Soccer) won a USSF Innovate to Grow grant in 2020.
Pensra (with San Francisco Youth Soccer) ran 8 summer camps from 2020-2024
Pensra expanded to include Futsal matches around 2022.
Pensra expanded to include some clubs from other parts of northern California in 2023.
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