Members Blogs

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...

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...

Easing in gently ... After stopping training 4 weeks ago because an injury, then being laid up because of a cold/cough and a number of family commitments, I decided to get back out there on Friday. It was time to see just how much my fitness had deteriorated in that time. The answer was LOADS! Neil was also back with us and Paul had a mild strain of his soleus tendon (I know how that hurts) so we decided to jog a lap of our field which is about 670m. We jogged one lap, then took a minute or so rest and repeated the lap. We actually did 6 laps in total and then had a jog/walk to cool down before doing a few calf stretches. Calories 770, average heart rate 86%, maximum intensity 19%, had intensity 43%

There are some problems with Uefa’s RAP for Mac Catalina users, but there is a solution now. LabHiper Media, who makes the videos, is pleased to inform you that it’s solved with their new app Mulppy. It even opens “new possibilities in the future with mobile devices (very soon)”. The Refereeing Assistance Programme is very […] Continue reading...

Read the signs ... With tomorrow's local Community Shield game and my second assessing commitment of the season on Tuesday, together with a two day family trip to Alton Towers on Friday/Saturday, I would only have the opportunity to train twice this week. One of those opportunities was this morning. Paul had hoped to join me but had a prior engagement at the Leeds Dog Trust Open Day where he got Bob from! I should have have recognised all the warning signs and decided to go back to sleep. Firstly my wife said she was going to walk the dog on the field we use for training. Last time she did that while I was training, I strained my Achilles; sign #1. The heavens opened and we had a long and sustained downpour; sign #2. My wife decided...

The Dynamic Yo-Yo test for referees and the Yo-Yo Intermittent test are approved by FIFA. In addition to the official test, the ”Dynamic YO-YO Test” and the “YO-YO Intermittent Test Level 1” may be used as methods of assessing the aerobic fitness of referees with the recommended standards. Below you’ll find the descriptions plus a links […] Continue reading...

Referee's in Washington are suing there employers after they were penalised when they used pink whistles. The Referee's decided to use the pink whistles in support of a breast cancer charity. They were penalised as this didn't match their uniform! They are now suing the league as this breaches their first ammendment rights. Link to story on DailyMail site. Continue reading...

Week 11 Laws of the Game Quiz 2020-2021 Laden… Continue reading...

One of the players this summer that has been linked with various club is Neymar. While he has undoubtedly skill and is a future star. He has a tendency to go down very easily under a challenge. If you listen to the World Football Phone In on the BBC, Tim Vickery has talked about this in past and how he will have to adapt in Europe. Tim Vickery has written an excellent piece talking about Neymars and a mindset of players in Brazil looking for a free kick rather than the ball. He talks about a recent game between Brazil & Holland where Neymar was booked for diving, video is below which shows 5 separate dives from that game. If Neymar does end up at Chelsea this summer, he is going to have to adapt quickly otherwise he wont be able...

Week 13 Laws of the Game Quiz 2020-2021 Laden… Continue reading...

week 28 Laws of the Game Quiz 2017-2018. It’s about penalty kicks this time. What will you decide? Good luck with the test. Bezig met laden… Continue reading...

Week 11 Laws of the Game Quiz 2018-2019. An interesting situation in Italy where a referee has given a penalty kick for swearing. How does the referee has to handle in situations like this? Full quiz below. The quiz Bezig met laden… Continue reading...

Monday off because I was moving. Do you know how stressful moving is? This was part one of the first move I was making. Second part was the next day and the second move on Friday. A fellow referee helped me out and I was able to move half my belongings to a temporary spot. Tuesday I had another exhibition game with the same home team exactly one week after the previous. The moving the two hours before was heavy-lifting and I was relieved I had everything done before my game. I certainly didn’t need a warm-up after it. I was fully moved out by then. All these shelves had my ref stuff on them. I found the dressing room and got changed quickly before the rest of my crew arrived and we went out to the field awaiting the field...

Yeah, the first match in The Hague is scheduled for next Saturday. For eight years I’ve combined refereeing at a club with playing myself, but now I’ll just focus on refereeing. KNVB, the Dutch FA, has scheduled two matches for me. The first one will be a youth match in Katwijk. I’m really looking forward to it. You can follow remarkable things of this fresh career on this blog, but this will not replace the interviews as I’ve posted before. Waiting for the blog: interview with top referee in Trinidad and Tobago, Dutch referee coach in Africa and few more. Suggestions for interviews are always welcome. Oh, here’s the appointment. First appointment of me in The Hague area

So I have been noticing that a lot of Google searches arrive at this blog searching for various terms and phrases like: Why are my Ervocom flags not working? How do I fix my Ervocom flags? Ervocom cross tip screws Ervocom referee flags faulty Ervocom beeper is not working Any basic maintenance for Ervocom flags can be found on my Ervocom Maintenance and Flags post. Basic maintenance involves changing the battery or adjusting the volume/vibration settings. Anything beyond that will likely involve some advanced knowledge of the flags. Best way to solve that is to contact Ervocom directly at info@ervocom.ch Describe the problem you have and accompany photos if it’s a physical problem and they can advise if it’s something they can have...

The ARIET fitness test is used in addition to the official Fifa fitness test for referees. The ARIET may be used as a method of assessing the aerobic fitness of assistant referees with the recommended standards. ARIET stands for Assistant Referee Intermittent Endurance Test. You can test it at home with these audio files. Procedure […] Continue reading...

Uefa have confirmed the appointments for the opening set of games for the Euro’s. Spains Carlos Caballo will take charge of the opening game between the Hosts Poland and 2004 winners Greece. The 2010 world cup final referee Howard Webb will take charge of the evening match on the opening day between Russia & the Czech Republic. Match Referee Assistant Referee 1 Assistant Referee 2 Additional Assistant Referee 1 Additional Assistant Referee 2 4th Official 8 June POL – GRE Carlos Velasco Carballo (ESP) Roberto Alonso Fernandez (ESP) Juan Carlos Yuste Jiménez (ESP) David Fernandez Borbalan (ESP) Carlos Clos Gomez (ESP) Gianluca Rocchi (ITA) 8 June RUS – CZE Howard Webb (ENG) Michael Mullarkey (ENG) Peter Kirkup (ENG) Martin Atkinson...

8 weeks ... to my holidays Even though we turned up early to train, the field we use was already jam packed with football teams all in pre-season training. One group was the local Ladies football team who were playing a game of 6 (7?) aside in one quadrant of the football field we warm up and down around. Tonight they provided 2 moments of light relief and neither were intentional... The first came as the coach took the goalkeeper to one side and decided to "coach" her on taking goal kicks. I've never coached footballers but I have coached referees and in my day job I successfully coached sales teams to over achieve against sales targets. When I heard the coach say to the player, "What are you doing wrong?" the poor girl looked...

Spanish referee Eduardo Iturralde González tackled Valencia player Sergio Canales in the match against Grenada last weekend. Slide tackle referee Valencia vs Granada door greekgoalsellas Should we give him a card?

Just got photo’s in my inbox from the bombing of the bakery of Greek international referee Petros Konstantineas. About two weeks ago an unknown person has put a bomb in an oven in Konstantineas’ store. Because he was late at work, starting at 1am, he wasn’t injured. The case is still under police investigation. Source of photo’s: http://www.refereepress.blogspot.com/ Continue reading...