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I found the George Best clip in the previous post while looking for this clip!

So as mentioned last week the blog was going to move to a new service provider. That has now happened and so you may need to update your RSS Feed etc. Filed under: Uncategorized Continue reading...

Just been looking for a video clip on youtube of a player scoring from the half way line. A suggested clip was this goal by George Best, one ive not seen before! On a George Best note, this is an amazing tribute video/song that really strikes a note.

Saturday night watching Match of the Day. I sent a simple tweet during the Liverpool vs. Sunderland highlights. All it said was "Correct decision for Richardson yellow". Little did I know it would be retweeted by @jacquioatley. The rest of the night was then spent along with @slimref explaining the following incident and why it was only a yellow card. szólj hozzá: Liverpool v Sunderland, Pen Disclaimer The following explanation is based on the guidelines we are given. Its an interpretation and an explanation of the thought process that the Referee has to go through. Its not Phil Dowds or the FA explanation. The below are taken from the Interpretation of the Laws of the Game from Fifa.Com Referees should consider the...

Stoke City have won their appeal against Rory Delaps sending off against Crawley at the weekend. The Football Association upheld Stoke's appeal and Delap's three-match suspension has been withdrawn. Tony Pulis after the match said: "If you look at the referee, he actually gives a throw-in, not even a free-kick. "The fourth official has told our coaching staff he made the decision because there was excessive force." Continue reading...

If you follow me on twitter you will have seen that I have made a decision recently to step back to being a level 5 Referee. This wasn't an easy decision however one I felt that I had to do. With my family changes during last season, I had agreed with The FA and my supply league that I would close Feb & March to allow home life to settle down. My plan then was to return during April to finish the season. One of the factors in this was I didn't know if I would be able to carry on as a level 4 referee this season, however really hoped that I would. I came back for one game but had barely trained during my time off and so was well of the pace fitness wise. Plus being honest family life still hadnt settled down and so I spoke with the...

Just having a quick look around the interwebs and came across these two products by Spintso. The PDA looks a really interesting idea but im not sure I would be fully reliant on tech during a game. Ive had notepads get drenched so what happens to this tech in those cases. Also if you drop it then, youve a problem. However the watch looks interesting and more practical, i quite like the dual display actually. Infact from what I can make out it runs four watches during the game One counting up (rolls all the time) One counting down (stops at a stop for additional time) One counting additional time (starts when you stop the match time) One watch for the break time Continue reading...

Another case for goal line technology Continue reading...

Another case for goal line technology Filed under: Football, Laws of the Game, Premier League, soccer Continue reading...

While having a bit of a catch-up on this weekends football on Footytube. I noticed the highlights from Inter vs Celtic in the Dublin Cup. We do have Red Cards in Pre Season it seems after all.

At times during Pre season games there's a bit more of a relaxed attitude. Situations are managed a bit more and if a players gets a bit out hand he is subbed. However there has to still be an element of credibility and if your going to go in like this during a game pre season or not you should still expect punishment! All the blog posts I had seen on this and the video didn't show a red card. So I went looking for a match report. There didn't seem to be one on the Newport County site. However on the WalesOnline site there is a match report. I quote But as Lee then worked his way across the field, Miller brought his run to a stop with a lunging tackle and the game was delayed for 10 minutes as medics attended him. Miller, who...

After England beat Spain 1-0, they could lay claim to being world champions. Well they could if Spain hadn't already lost since the world cup final to Argentina. The unofficial world champion works in the same way as boxing match, in that the winner takes the title. Its surprising how many times though the title has changed hands in the World Cup Final. Also maybe its the only chance Scotland have of being "World Champions" holding the title 86 times! For the record, Argentina then went and lost to Japan who are the reigning unofficial champions Continue reading...

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This season is a bit odd for me. Its the first time since I first started that ive not into a season looking for promotion to the next step. It would be quite easy to put my feet up and just coast through the season. However I made a point of saying to myself, colleague and The FA that this wasn't going to be the case, and that I still wanted to count. So inspired by this excellent post by Tris on setting goals. Here are my very simple goals for the season Easy one and one that can be measured - Referee a County Cup Final. Ive not had one since my first year as a Level 4 (Re)Establish myself back in the County as Referee. My last few years have seen me officiate outside of my Parent County due to my supply league. As a result...

Robbie Savage wearing all 72 football league shirts. Seen on Soccerblog

Michel Platini has stated that if the Referee‘s feel appropriate they have the powers to stop games if there is racism during the Euro’s. The BBC is reporting this as following the panorama programme last week they have been on a bit of a mission (rightly so) to highlight the issues with fans in Poland and Ukraine and the racist chants from them. Platini insists officials will book any player who walks off the pitch without permission – even if they are a victim of racial abuse. “It’s a yellow card. It’s not a player – Mr Balotelli – who’s in charge of refereeing. It’s the referee who takes these decisions. “So the referee has been given advice and he can stop the game if there are problems.” I had a conversation at work with someone...

Ive just been reading this great article on When Saturday Comes. The article talks about the how players are allowed to exploit the "relaxed" approach of referees when dealing with set pieces. It uses the recent Inter vs Napoli fixture as a case in point when players were encroaching at the penalty kick. The problem how I see it though is that the media expect the game to be played at such pace, that if the Referee slows it down, he is going to get slaughtered. So those small things get neglected, however its still wrong that this is the case. I like the idea in the comments, that if a team fails to score from a penalty kick during open play the game is restarted with a goal kick. This way there is no need for encroachment as there...

This weekend will see a Referee exchange between Malta and Northern Ireland. This will see a team of four officials travel from Malta to take charge of a Dungannon Swifts FC–Donegal Celtic FC. Its an interesting idea and I wonder if this would ever come to the Premier League. If you consider the merseyside derby the other week. Rather than putting Martin Athkinson or Howawrd Webb in charge. Why not have an exchange with Spain and one of their referees come to England. This could then be returned with say Howard Webb taking charge of Madrid vs Barcelona? What do you think? Continue reading...

I tweeted this a few days ago, but wanted to capture this on here. This is a shocking story of a Referee who has been left blind in one eye following an assault. Police have arrested the moron who did this to the 21 year old. As much as The FA try with the respect campaign situations like this, and the incited with the Redditch player will still happen, and its no wonder in Oldham the Refs went on strike. The only "positive" and that is by far the wrong word is in situations like this the police become involved and the idiots get handled correctly, and not with a fine and a ban. Continue reading...