Members Blogs

The Dutch commentator was wondering why play was still going on, but here’s a perfect example of an assistant referee who touches the ball when it’s in play. He’s no so-called outside agent, so the game should go on. See video of situation in EC qualifier between Finland and The Netherlands below. Such thing happened a few weeks ago in a match in one of the British lower leagues, but I can’t find it back. The referee was on the sideline and ball bounced via him to the defending team. They started a couter-attack and scored. Ever experienced that?

This made me smile: an assistant referee in match between Corinthians and Santos in action spraying paint on the pitch. Look at that ‘circle’. Continue reading...

In the recent Europa League round there was a situation which every referee could learn from. How do you deal with assistant referee decisions in the penalty area? Check the following situation in the match between Borussia Mönchengladbach (Germany) and … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Japanese referees Yuichi Nishimura (men) and Sachiko Yamagishi (women) received the 2012 AFC Referee of the Year Award during the 2012 AFC Annual Awards. A happy Nishimura: “I think on the refereeing side there are no big differences between Europe and Asia. That’s because Asian referees have high standards. I think it’s only different on the football side.” Nishimura als praises his colleague Ravshan Irmatov from Uzbekistan. “Mr. Ravshan is a fantastic referee.” Have a look at the interview on the AFC YouTube Channel. If you understand Japanese, you might be interested in the interview with the female winner Sachiko Yamagishi. The post Asian referees of 2012: Nishimura and Yamagishi appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue...

Referee Arnold Hunter from Northern Ireland recently got promoted by Uefa to the international Second Group. His goal is become an Elite referee. That’s what he says in an interview with the Dutch Referee Blog. The 33-year-old referee from Fermanagh, … Continue reading → The post Arnold Hunter feels honoured to be a referee appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

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...

Aran Hodgkinson is a young referee from the UK who got the opportunity to referee and train two weeks in Portugal. What a great chance for him. On his blog Aran Hodgkinson shares his experiences with the world. The first … Continue reading → Continue reading...

As referees you need to know how you perform. If you see how much you run, what your heartrate is or where you run on the pitch, you’ll get an idea of how you perform during a game. And you’ll see how you can improve. On Twitter I got in touch with Louis Bird and […] Continue reading...

There is always a way to become better as a referee. One of the things is reading interviews from other referees and see things you could use yourself. That’s why I started to reach out to referees from all over the world who have a goal to reach the top. The same applies for Antonio […] Continue reading...

Anthony Taylor fitness tips and exercises for you in this blog post. The Premier League match official has given some insights in his training sessions on the Premier League website and below I’ll explain them to you Referee training exercise 1 One of the drills involves running four lengths of a football pitch continuously. “You […] Continue reading...

Here’s the answer of the question: How many cards can a referee give to active players during a competition match on highest amateur level before he needs to abandon the match? The options were, as posted in my previous blog … Continue reading → The post Answer: 46 is max number of cards before abandoning game appeared first on Football: Dutch Referee Blog for match officials. Continue reading...

Mehdi Carcela suffered an ankle breaking tackle. It was the second harsh offence on him, both punished with a yellow card. But this second time he couldn’t control himself. He slaps the offender Bjorn Ruytinx in the face. Carcela is … Continue reading → The post Ankle breaking tackle followed by slap in the face appeared first on Football: Dutch Referee Blog for match officials. Continue reading...

Angry bird attacks assistant referee Maycon Vieira during a match in the Brazilian league. He ran the line at the match between Navegantes and Inter de Lages in a Santa Catarina State Championship game. Metro described in beautifully: “But things … Continue reading → The post Angry bird attacks assistant referee appeared first on Football: Dutch Referee Blog for match officials. Continue reading...

Andrew Lincoln is had to give his first straight red card ever after three seasons of refereeing. An interview with the 17-year-old referee from Swindon. Please introduce yourself. “My name is Andrew Lincoln and I am based in Swindon, England. I am a 17 year old match official and became one after passing my basic… Continue reading...

The 2016-2017 started with a bang for Andrew Christiansen. The assistant referee from Faroe Islands got appointed to a game in Andorra with Alex Troleis and Dan Hojgaard between FC Santa Coloma and FC Alaskhert from Armenia. “It was the first time ever that a refereeing team from the Faroe Islands got appointed for a […] Continue reading...

Anastasia Pustovoitova is the referee of the Women’s UCL final 2018-2019. “There’s a mixture of emotions – certainly happiness and excitement”, she tells Uefa.com. “I can’t wait to get to the match, and I’m sure that my heart rate will increase when I’m lining up with the teams.” In this blog post she shares 3 tips […] Continue reading...

Maltese referee Esther Azzopardi had recently been promoted to Uefa’s Elite Development list. She got the love from refereeing from her father, a former Fifa assistant referee. “I always trust in his advice.” An interview with Esther Azzopardi on the Dutch Referee Blog. Photo courtesy Domenic Aquilina, Malta Football Association Photographer. His website. When and why did you start refereeing? Azzopardi: “I wore the uniform and blew the whistle for the very first time in September 1998. Today, I am 30 years old and I have been refereeing since I was 17. Refereeing has been an integral part of my life as I have devoted my attention and passion to it since the very beginning. My father (Ronald Farrugia, ed.) was a FIFA assistant referee...

What’s in the referee bag you take with you to your matches? Just add some papers on a4 size … … because sometimes the substitution board doesn’t work due to heavy rainfall, like here in the Chinese Super League match between Hangzhou Greentown and Beijing Guoan.

“Always communicate as refereeing team” – Bjorn Kuipers Last week I went to the book launch of Bjorn Kuipers. He also gave a lecture about managing a game as referee. I thought it would be useful to share these tips with you on a weekly basis. One tip every week. I’ll start off with an […] Continue reading...

Dutch professional referees Allard Lindhout and Martin van den Kerkhof climbed the Mont Ventoux mountain for a charity that helps people with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. “We were inspired by our refereeing colleague Reinold Wiedemeijer. His father had gotten this disease”, Lindhout says. This disease causes paralysis and people eventually die because […] Continue reading...