Members Blogs

So as detailed on the About Me… page – I have been retraining to become a Football Official (for the sake of clarity – “American Football” will be referred from hereon in as “Football”. Association Football will be known as “Soccer”). The whole process was extremely easy compared to what I experienced back in 1995 when I went through an intensive 8-10 weeks of classroom sessions to qualify as a soccer referee (under the tutelage of the legend that was Gerald Ashby).[..] http://donningthestripes.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/preamble-to-the-main-event/

In an earlier version of this blog I used to upload any Referee related video to youtube and link back to that. This stopped due to my DVD Recorder packing up. I had forgotten all about the videos until for some reason recently they have been getting a lot of comments and I keep getting emails for them! As they had got a bit lost, I have added them to a playlist and stuck them on the right of the blog. Continue reading...

On The Ref Show this week BBC Radio Sheffield's Rob Staton was at Hallam Sports Park for the first day of the Youdan Trophy, he was joined by former PGMOL General Manager Keith Hackett and scorer of the first ever … Continue The post Watch The Ref Show online | 31st July 17 appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

A delegation from www.you-are-the-ref.com had the pleasure of teaming up with our friends at CALSOUTH, California recently. We were able to look at The post Top team visit Top Gun appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

Thank god it’s another 156 days to the next international break! With the tedium now over, we can concentrate on domestic matters The post Runners and Riders: Premier League officials in Week 30 appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

Juan Mata's 49th-minute strike gave Manchester United a much-needed victory at Leicester, but questions remain as to whether he should have even The post Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata lucky to get away with yellow for tackle on Leicester City forward Jamie Vardy appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

It's been a torrid time this term for the son of current Cheltenham Town boss Gary. Having played for Watford and Arsenal The post Lee Johnson: ‘Let’s find the funds to turn more refs pro’ appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

10-man Bournemouth earned a draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford at the weekend, in a match that had two unpleasant incidents The post Kevin Friend’s Old Trafford nightmare was the worst Premier League refereeing display this season appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says he is being treated to different rules than his fellow Premier League counterparts. The Portuguese appeared The post Jose Mourinho is right – he is being treated unfairly appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

You Are The Ref's Keith Hackett is calling for an extended stadium ban for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. This follows Wenger pushing The post Hammer Wenger for sake of all referees appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

Aberdeen FC recently won their appeal to have a yellow card shown to James Maddison for simulation rescinded. It highlights the lack The post Hackett’s Verdict: Time for the FA to follow Scotland’s lead appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

I await with some anticipation the detail with regard to how the introduction of sin bins at grassroots level will operate. Many of The post HACKETT’S VERDICT: Is this sin bin trial workable? appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

The weekend games once again threw up glaring errors made by our top referees. The second tier of professional referees who operate The post Hackett’s Verdict: Is decision making at an all time low? appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

Mike Dean and Stuart Attwell find themselves in the Championship this weekend - out of respect to the competition. Dean is in The post Big game referees in Championship appeared first on You Are The Ref. Continue reading...

About 10 years ago, just after quitting refereeing, Jeff Winter published his memoirs. Hate him or like him, he does have something to say. Read more here. Don't be shy to comment ;)

The referee of the first ever World Cup final, in 1930, happened to be a Belgian: John Langenus. As fortune has it, he spoke Dutch. In fact, he even wrote in Dutch: memoirs of his refereeing career and the travels he made. Good for me, as I'm Dutch. And good for you, as I can tell you about it :) More about his life here: John Langenus. Enjoy!

School boy football lesson 1, DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE BALL! Seen via the Offside.com Continue reading...

After this Saturday when England no doubt struggle to draw against Switzerland, there really is a lack of football this summer. Well not really. As during June we have the Uefa U21 Championship in Denmark. Plus in July the Copa America. Just seen this video via Soccerblog that has been put together to help promote it. Continue reading...

I should be in a muddy field ... All the people who turned up on Monday disappeared, apart from Paul and he'd been to the physio for a back problem and arrived with strict instructions not to do any exercise. Meanwhile I was regretting my decision to allow my Glastonbury ticket to lapse (that was until I saw the weather there) and needed a decent run out. Life was made more difficult with a local football team in the top half of the field, a ladies football team training in the bottom quadrant and a youth team occupying the top field and much of the rugby field alongside the field we usually use. So in a tight space it was time to run in straight lines and I decided to repeat the exercise from Training 4.3. Now I have been feeling...

Isn't he on the telly? After a long afternoon cooking, eating and drinking to celebrate Father's Day I wasn't feeling very chipper today at work and even went as far as breaking my new rule ... I drank coffee on a training day. The snack machine also pinched my cash as I tried to buy a Twix (other chocolate bars are available) but I ignored the omen and went for a Double Decker instead ... and regretted it later when I felt queasy during training. I arrived right on time to find Mr H (Football League ref who makes occasional appearances on the Football League Show) and Ricky had joined Steve and they were doing a high intensity session. James P had also turned up very early and was part way through his exercise. This left Paul, Neil...