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The last card stats: Portugal also leads the second yellow card competition. Players in Portugese Liga ZON Sagres also got the most yellow and straight red cards on average per match. (NB: I’m working on a visualisation of the totals, but that takes some time because I’ve to work. Hope to get it on the blog before the end of the week.) A short explanation for the the infographic below. It shows the countries where most second yellow cards are given based on data from Worldfootball.net and Futebol365.pt. How darker the tint, the more reds due to second yellow are handed out. Portugal scores 0,233333 in the stats, which means that after approximately (1/0.233333=) 4 matches a red card is given due to a second yellow. Number 2: Greece...

Exactly 39 years ago, the first yellow cards were handed out in the Dutch national league. Seven were booked at the start of the 1972/1973 season, but media still struggle to figure out who got the card first. Youngest Fifa referee at that moment, 31-year-old Jan Keizer from Volendam, announced one day before the tournament in De Telegraaf that ‘referees will hand out yellow cards much faster than they did before when referees just gave warnings’. They had to be more strict on ‘laying down an opponent’ and ‘not taking enough distance when you’re in the wall’. Keizer was happy with the new measures. “They are fantastic, because they’re of importance for the real football lovers.” The Dutch talented referee stressed that referee’s...

In tribute to slain Dutch referee Richard Nieuwenhuizen, referees around the world will change their avatars or profile photos to the logo of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). The tribute will be timed to coincide with a silent march in Richard’s hometown of Almere on Sunday, 9 December 2012, at 17:00 local time (16:00 UTC; 11:00 AM EST in North America). Referees, players, coaches and supporters are encouraged to post their thoughts on this senseless tragedy during the tribute, followed by the hash tag #RESPECTforRichard. Webmasters are encouraged to post a graphic tribute to Richard at the same start time. A suggested graphic tribute is previewed below. We propose a tribute period of a minimum of 24 hours and maximum of 7...

A funny moment in the FA Cup clash between Preston North End and Manchester United. Referee Phil Dowd gave a yellow card to Davies, but he was playing without number. Would you allow that? Here’s what happened. The player got blood on his shirt and Preston North End probably does not have more than one […] Continue reading...

A very interesting situation on the pitch: Jerry St. Juste is playing with lost footwear and scored a goal with one shoe. The Heerenveen player gets the ball on his own half, but looses one of his shoes right after his first touch. He dribbles towards the opponent’s goal and without being challenged he is […] Continue reading...

Great case study again in the game between Manchester United and Arsenal. The question for you: Is Phil Jones making an offence in the photo below where he touches the ball with his head? How did you answer that question? My answer was “yes”. I immediately stopped my tv and replayed it. Did not see […] Continue reading...

Playful fitness exercises for referees are always good to add something funny to a training session. And the idea is still: you’ll work on your physical ability. I explain the first exercise on my YouTube channel, where you’ll find more videos about refereeing. Below the video I’ll add the text as well. Example of playful […] Continue reading...

Pieter Vink’s alarm goes every morning at 5.30. Waking up, making sandwiches for lunch and off to work. The former top referee unfortunately had to quit his “wonderful career as pro referee”. During the first years of his refereein career he still worked as police officer, but the last ten years refereeing was is fulltime […] Continue reading...

Pierluigi Collina Master Class. I case you haven’t seen it, it’s worth watching. Below you find 5 important lessons from the masterclass and in the video Collina explains them. Tips from the masterclass “It is not only important that you are good. You also need to look good. Football needs athletes as referees.” “What makes […] Continue reading...

The Belgian FA has started the campaign “I like referees” earlier this season. Uefa referee boss Pierluigi Collina likes referees too. “I think it’s important to support, help and assist the referees, so any action to promote refereeing is very … Continue reading → The post Pierluigi Collina likes referees appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

The Pierluigi Collina fitness tips are part of my second blog post on Fitness Friday. After watching the Pierluigi Collina Master Class I started reading his book again. It’s from 2003 and at that time he already stresses the importance of fitness for referees, because the games are going faster. Run, referee, run Run, referee, […] Continue reading...

Physical vs mental fitness: how being top fit helps you better deal with pressure and gives you more energy to focus on making the right decisions. Some great tips by Bundesliga referee Patrick Ittrich and World Cup and Euro final assistant referee Leif Lindberg. Webinar on physical vs mental fitness I’ve followed a webinar from […] Continue reading...

A physical training programme is launched by the Referee Committee of the Madrid Football Association. They want to improve their local referees and prepare them for the increasing standards of refereeing. One of the goals is to “position Madrid’s men and women referees at the forefront of Spanish refereeing.” I talk on my blog with José María […] Continue reading...

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...

Tuesday I got a very nice game as an assistant referee during a match of the Dutch u15 National Team against Sparta Rotterdam. A friend of mine was referee during this friendly and he asked me to be one of … Continue reading → Continue reading...

This weekend I officiated a youth match between DHC Delft C1 – Feyenoord C1 (under 15 teams). Was it on? A member of the home club called me in the morning that there was a little bit of snow on the pitch, but temperatures were rising and snow would start to melt. The first thing […] Continue reading...

Pierluigi Collina is still a very popular referee. Many fans wanted to take a photo with him at the when he gave the lecture “The Art of Decision Making: Transform and Stay on Top of Your Game” at the Singapore … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Photo series: World Cup preparation for referees. The photo’s are made Lorenzo Fontani, a Sky Sport journalist. He published them on Twitter and I embedded them in the blog post below. All referees doing their excercises. #arbitri #Mondial2014 chi riconosce … Continue reading → Continue reading...

A nicve photo series: Feyenoord u16 vs Utrecht u16. I officiated a game between the teams last weekend. The home team scored an early goal, but never came back after two Utrecht goals right before half-time. The final result: 2-5. Photo’s are courtesy of Hans Warnaar, who was so kind to send me the pictures. […] Continue reading...

I officiated a weekend ago a u19 game and found an oline photo album. The photographer gave me permission to use the photo’s from me as referee at DHC A1 vs DSO A1. All photo’s of that game: Gert Wildering on Facebook. Continue reading...