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Sad news coming out of Italy where Livorno midfielder Piermario Morosini has died after suffering cardiac arrest during a Serie B game. All Italian league games have been called off as a result. It’s unfortunately not the first time this has happened however in Italy tests on players are more stringent than in other country’s. After all it was following kanu transferring from Ajax to Inter that a heart defect was found. Link to story Filed under: Uncategorized Continue reading...

Week 10 Laws of the Game Quiz 2020-2021 Laden… Continue reading...

Week 43 The football season is over so it meant I needed to re-strategise. With football and futsal running keeping me active all year round, I could use my officiating in both to work on areas of improvement common to both sports. I usually keep a list of improvement items in my game bag so that I can glance at it before the game to pick the one(s) I want to work on. I drew up the new list from memory and comments from fellow referees. I, then, added more by looking at the year’s worth of assessments and picking the stuff I agreed with after prolonged reflection. I decided at the end of the week to go forward with upgrading. There is plenty of time left to move into instructing later on. Assessing too but my focus for now is the...

UEFA has appointed Poland's Elite official Szymon Marciniak to take charge of next Tuesday's Champions League clash between Paris SG and FC Barcelona. At the same time, Italian World Cup 2014 final referee Nicola Rizzoli has been assigned to oversee Benfica's match against Borussia Dortmund. For Szymon Marciniak, who officiated three games at EURO 2016 and supervised a quarterfinal and Continue reading...

Back after the winter break. Here is Laws of the Game Quiz 2020-2021 week 16. The quiz will be shared online from next week on every Tuesday. Some relevant links, especially if your season is about to start or when your games will resume after a long period without games due to covid. Latest version […] Continue reading...

It's been a sad weekend as a nation lost its innocence and the world lost a unique singing talent. I have friends who have many good friends in Norway because they travel there each year to referee in a youth football tournament. I hope when they arrive this week, that they find all their friends safe and well. Extremism and terrorism have no place in this world and in a place like Norway which has such a small population, it seems likely that the effects of this weekend's tragedy will touch many lives. As for the death of Amy Winehouse, she was undoubtedly a talented artiste and her loss will be felt by her many fans. I reserve my sympathies for her family. No parent should ever have to bury their child. Unfortunately, all too often...

The latest episode of the Referee's World podcast is out. This episode focus on summer fitness and the preparation to get ready for the new season and fitness test. Well worth checking out. Also a certain site may get a mention during it, thanks Darren. Link to the site to download it Amazon.co.uk Widgets Continue reading...

Week 26 Laws of the Game Quiz 2019-2020 NB: you can always find the quiz archive on this specific quiz page. Laden… Continue reading...

Pictures of the Nike referee kits 2018-2020 are released. Eric from French blog Arbitrez Vous gives me permission to share pictures from his blog with my readers. Because they kits are in different colours than previous years, I hope you want to share your thoughts. What do you think of the new colours? The old colours […] Continue reading...

Week 31 Laws of the Game Quiz 2020-2021 Video for question one Quiz (best of) Laden… Continue reading...

If last week was busy, this was the craziest of the past four years. Not really refereeing-related. I didn’t sleep three nights this week which was brand new to me. Do I say I’m busy every week? I hope not because this one was really busy. Only two games were scheduled for this week but negligible travel. Wednesday The crew was coming from a ways so while they were travelling, I had my pre-match meal, did a job interview and finished writing a paper. They picked me up early and the drive down the road was funny given that it was almost no distance at all but nice to arrive together and for me to chat with them before arrival. The weather was quite chilly. We stood outside watching the prior game for a bit before heading back...

I was watching some of the highlights of the Panama vs Guadalupe match from the Gold Cup. Check out this sending off from the first half. While its not a clear stamp, I belive the player could have avoided standing on him and so have no issue with the Red card. One question I have though. Guadalupe are not a FIFA registered nation. So if they won this who goes to the Confederations Cup? Also the fact a Non FIFA nation plays in it, does that mean that this is a Non Fifa Recognised tournament? I noticed that the officials in the game were not wearing the standard Addidas Fifa kit? Continue reading...

The Fifa u20 World Cup will start tomorrow. Here are some disciplinary stats about last tournaments with some amazing matches with four red cards. The referees for this tournament are published here. Fifa says this tournament is a good springboard for young referees. “Five of them even directed a World Cup final: Arnaldo Coelho (BRA, 1982), Edgardo Codesal Mendez (MEX, 1990), Sandor Puhl (HUN, 1994), Horacio Elizondo (ARG, 2006) and Howard Webb (ENG, 2010)”, according to the Fifa press realease. All stats below are from Fifa’s databases and provide info of previous u20 World Cups. Most red cards in a match 4 Italy – Hungary 2009 4 Netherlands – Honduras 1995 3 Argentina – Netherlands 1983 3 Portugal – Argentina 1991 3 Spain –...

Can you be in offside position from a corner kick? This referee tends to give a throw-in, but then takes over his AR’s signal for offside, which is not possible from a corner kick (plus goalk kick or throw-in). Would … Continue reading → Continue reading...

They say it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks but I have to disagree as this old dog tried a new trick this weekend and it worked a treat. I confess that I am a thief, a magpie if you like, of other people's valuable ideas and after considering them, I often drag them into my professional and refereeing life, getting good use out of them. I do not take credit for the advice of others who have taken the time to pass their advice to me and always acknowledge the source. Most of the time, I'm so busy storing up these other ideas that I forget who mentioned it originally, but I always mention it came to me from "a friend". On Saturday I assessed a referee and one of the things I noticed was when he had a free kick outside the penalty...

Premier League referees prepare thoroughly for the season. “Players become better, so we have to do the same”, says Michael Oliver on the Premier League website. And every referee wants the best games in the league. “This means I have to keep my standards high as well”, says Martin Atkinson. Preparation of Premier League referees […] Continue reading...

The Centre of Refereeing Excellence is a great experience for John Andrew Jones, because it helps him a lot as referee. The Welsh (assistant) referee got his CORE diploma and gives you insights from his visit to the Uefa Headquarters. Congratulations with getting your CORE 36 diploma. How important is that for you? Thank you, Jan. […] Continue reading...

World Cup final referee Howard has launched launched a new book called The Man in the Middle. This new book will released on the 20th of October. I am really looking forward to read a copy. Howard asked me to write his publisher to get a review copy as referee blogger. I’m hoping that one […] Continue reading...

You have to be a little crazy to become a referee, says referee Edwin van de Graaf during a referee meeting in The Hague at my referee association. The referee at the highest levels in The Netherlands started as a football player and had to referee u7 and u9 games. He told that once you […] Continue reading...

Check this video out, its a bit of a different approach to taking a free kick. Technically there is nothing wrong with it. However you could argue its a distraction tactic and maybe if you were that way inclined make them retake it. What's your thoughts on it? Add them to the comments below. Seen via Soccerblog Continue reading...