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Did someone mention drought? Since it was announced that much of eastern England was facing drought like conditions it's hardly stopped raining. So tonight it was a case of beat the rain. We started with our usual 5 minute run followed by shuttles for the warm up. Our shuttles involve jogging from the goal line to the edge of the penalty area and back (distance 33m in total), then on the way out to the edge we do a series of exercises ... side to side left foot leading, side to side right foot leading, high knees, bum kicks, two steps to the left then two steps to the right, finishing up with the hamstring walk. Each time the exercises are done on the way out to the edge of the penalty area and then we jog back to the start point on...

Three's company and 25 is a football training session. Just as I was about to leave work the heavens opened and it rained heavily for at least 30 minutes. The drive home saw me passing through a large number of deep puddles and I thought the field we use might be under water. Well it wasn't quite, but it was a lot softer than it has been so I switched from trainers to boots. Steve and Eddie had already started training and were doing fartleks around the field, running one side, walking three, running two, walking two, running three, walking one and finishing by running all four sides. I'd considered that as well but with a local football team setting up a training session in the top half of the field, we (Neil, Paul and I) would have...

And then there were four (sort of) ... It's not been a good day as I received an email confirming I'd been unsuccessful in applying for a job I really wanted and the promised feedback wasn't delivered either, so I'm no wiser as to where I went wrong. I'm hoping that it was just a badly constructed application rather than my skills and experience falling short of the required standard. My second dose of rejection came as I followed up on a letter advising me I'd been identified as a match for someone needing a bone marrow donation. Now for some the thought of needles being inserted in their back to drain some fluid out of their spine and the after effects in terms of the pain supposedly associated with the procedure put people off...

Broken but not defeated ... With this being the 4th of our sessions I expected my fitness to be improving and according to the heart rate monitor chart, it is ... but I still can't run far or fast. Tonight Paul and I were joined by Neil who is the father of a young referee I helped to train a couple of seasons ago (hey Luke!). James F hasn't been in touch and James P is worried he has shin splints again so he took my advice and is resting up. I wasn't in the best of moods having suffered a disappointment earlier in the day. I had a cramping sensation between my shoulders which I can't help feeling relates to a car crash I had last November and the subsequent whiplash. Anyway, I needed an exercise where I could just run and leave my...

Le pant, le phew, le pant ... With James F not turning out and James P working late it was left to Paul and I to run ourselves silly tonight. I wanted a toughish session which built on last weeks openers so I decided to go far, middle and near ... after our usual warm up of a couple of laps of the field and some shuttles. Then starting at the goal line, we ran to the edge of the near penalty area, ran back to the start point, ran to the halfway line, ran back to the start point, ran to the far goal line and ran back to the start point. Time taken 1:55, so we had a 1 minute rest. We repeated the same exercise again but the time has stretched to 1:57, so we still had a 1 minute rest before going through the cycle again. Now this time...

But I don't run with my shoulders ... The madness has infected another and we were joined by James F tonight taking the gang to four. The temperature gauge in the car said it was 23C when I parked up and I was glad I'd downed a litre of water at work during the afternoon. Well it seemed like a good idea but made me that little bit heavier and slower (any excuse). After we had completed our warm up I noticed my heart rate monitor couldn't decide whether I was dead (no heartbeat) or gunning like an over-revved car (121% of maximum) and it kept locking at a % every couple of minutes. I think I left it in the heat of the conservatory for too long. When I got home I soaked it for about 5 minutes and suddenly it's reading correctly again...

It's warm so let's run faster ... With the country in the grip of a mini heatwave I had visions of us collapsing if we tried to run for as long as we have done recently. I decided we would try out a session that I wanted to do last Wednesday and with it being running for shorter bursts it seemed to match up well with the heat. We started our usual warm up routine and completed our shuttles in good time. Paul had to go to a meeting after training and with Steve turning up we needed to get a move on, so we all got a decent work out. So we ran at a decent pace (3/4 pace?) diagonally from one corner of the field to another before walking along the goal line to the corner, running diagonally to the opposite corner before walking along the...

TGIF ... Long week, few problems with staffing at work and no trip to Glastonbury. It was however the end of week 4 of my training to get fit (for fit read thin) for my daughter's wedding. Tonight's the night we book the holiday wrapped around the wedding, so it's a good end to the week. Tonight's training was a gentle jog for around 4K over 39 minutes, so nothing too strenuous. Calories 538, average heart rate 76%.

Also known as back in the saddle. My wife went on a diet recently to kickstart getting trim so she looks good on my daughter's wedding photographs in September (it was very successful too!). With the same thought in mind I decided I would begin training again. I never thought it would be so tough and yet so easy. I met with James and Paul on the field we've used for the last 3 years and set up a simple exercise. After a warm up lap and shuttles, we ran at a pace which gave our hearts, legs and lungs an introductory workout. We ran for 6 minutes, walked for 3 minutes, ran for 5 minutes (my mistake as I miscalculated when we should stop) walked for 3 minutes, ran for 6 minutes 15 seconds, walked for 3 minutes and ran for 6 minutes. I...

After straining my Achilles last Monday I took Wednesday and Friday's sessions off to give it time to recover. I had another reason for that as I was working on the first of the 2011-12 season's Basic Courses for New Referees over Saturday and Sunday. 18 candidates turned up, most under the age of 16 and that brought some challenges but we overcame them. The outdoor sessions worked well, even though we had reduced the number of tutors from 4 to 3. Indoors, matters were even more straight forward. The only problem was the heat. It was the hottest and sunniest day of the year. I've suffered from sunstroke and heatstroke before but combining symptoms with a bad reaction to what I ate on Saturday evening (spicy platter from ASDA...

Afternoon, I've just started a blog not only about refereeing but also about cricket with a brief section about my school work. Hope you'll take the time to give it a read and any feedback is very welcome. http://jackprescott97.wordpress.com/

Sundays League Cup Final between Swansea and Bradford will be officiated by Kevin Friend. He will be assisted by Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt & Scott Ledger. Fourth official is M Oliver Related Articles Capital One Cup – Swansea v Bradford: Kevin Friend must hope for quieter game – GRAHAM POLL (dailymail.co.uk) Gary Jones dreaming of Europa League adventure with Bradford (goal.com) VIDEO: Bradford aiming to ‘ruffle feathers’ (bbc.co.uk) The post Leage Cup Final Officials appeared first on The Referee. Continue reading...

Cavani scores a brilliant overhead kick. Only for that darn assistant to rule it out for Offside!

If your fan of football you may have come across the you are the ref series that has been running for a few years. Usuually these focus on an incident (real or hypothetical) via a cartoon. There is a new book out from the creator called You are the Ref – A Guide to Good Refereeing. The post You are the Ref – Guide to Good Refereeing Book appeared first on The Referee. Continue reading...

You cant help but to have heard of the shocking news from Egypt, where 73 people have been killed with a further 1000 injured. This happened after Al Ahly vs Al Masry and after the Arab spring has grabbed the worlds attention. Games in Egypt can be so voliatile that they quite often bring in European referee's. Former Scotish Referee Stuart Dougal has talked to the BBC about his experinces. Link to Video Continue reading...

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Was just given this book by a family member who picked it up at a jumble sale. Just for fun what year did this come out Continue reading...

You may remember a few years ago Cameroon were meant to wear the below kit. However FIFA decided to spoil the fun and made them wear a black shirt underneath as the Laws of the Game say there must be sleeves Yesterday while working on a new referee's course, there was a lady's match taking place at the same time. It was spotted very quickly that one of the players was wearing a sleeves shirt. What appeared to be the case was that she had in fact rolled them up and the shirt wants sleeveless. However it caused a bit of debate about the right thing to do. Opionin was that there should be sleves so the player should be asked to roll them down. How would you have handled it?

You may remember a few years ago Cameroon were meant to wear the below kit. However FIFA decided to spoil the fun and made them wear a black shirt underneath as the Laws of the Game say there must be sleeves Yesterday while working on a new referee's course, there was a lady's match taking place at the same time. It was spotted very quickly that one of the players was wearing a sleeves shirt. What appeared to be the case was that she had in fact rolled them up and the shirt wants sleeveless. However it caused a bit of debate about the right thing to do. Opionin was that there should be sleves so the player should be asked to roll them down. How would you have handled it? Continue reading...

When getting my kit ready for Thursdays game I decided to take some photo's of the ammount of crap we end up carrying around with us. Items not shown include Two sets of flags - Touchline and Refscall buzzer flags Two pairs of boots Wash Bag that also includes Radian B, Deep Heat and some Ice cream I brought years ago but works Plus drinks that I take on the day.