A&H

No more pre-season friendlies.... thankyou

mikedn

mikedn

Referee/Mentor
Had open age pre-season friendly today with two Mid Lancs teams: Informed all and sundry that all laws of association football still apply even though a friendly.... all in agreement all happy bunnies.

Whistle goes fives minutes in, free kick to away side, cue Mr Gobby from home team "its only a friendly"
another 6 minutes go by free kick to home side again, cue Mr Gobby again " oh for god's sake you'll ruin the game, keep giving free kicks its only a bloody friendly" got a yellow for that especially as he was shouting it.
In the 25th minute an away player fouls a home player, blows whistle for foul, as i do home player jumps up smacks away player in the mouth who then retaliates with a counter punch. I am blowing whistle and making my way to them (only 4-5 yards) then both sets of players join in pushing/shoving/thumping/swearing, home manager walks on threatening players. 2 players sent off for violent conduct and they both say to me "its only a friendly are you really going to send them in"
I am now stood there watching a free for all, so i'm blowing the whistle and telling both managers to separate their players.
I get told to **** off from some player in the melee. Right methinks i'm not here for this s*** i abandon the match.
Cue players "if we all calm down can we still play on"
My reply " can you all guarantee me 100% there will be no further incidents?"
Complete silence not a word, i walk off the pitch on passing the managers i inform them i will be reporting both teams.
So now i come to the conclusion that teams that play friendlies can do what they want and not be sanctioned for it, so not for me no more pre/post season friendlies for me........ thank you.
And yes i was in full match control, no incidents beforehand to cause problems...........
Submitted both endings off and extraordinary report....
 
The Referee Store
ref craig said:
It's another one them mate report move on
Click to expand...
spoke to disciplinary secretary today, both players to be charged with violent conduct.... and both teams to be charged with misconduct.... maybe just a friendly but doesn't make a difference.
 
No that's it if they wanna kick two ****s out of one and other let them it's up to them because later they have to pay the penalty
 
Spoke to a player yesterday about a Friendly he had last week and i knew the ref, conversation went like this:

Him: We had a ref last week he was alright but he sent one of our players off!
Me: Oh i think i know about this one, didn't he headbutt the guy full in the face and break his nose?
Him: Yeah he did but it was ONLY A FRIENDLY, why didn't he just ask the manager to sub him, he may miss the start of the season now.

Absolutely beyond belief, reason number 68. Why i don't do pre-season friendlies!!
 
Had a conversation with a good friend of mine (referee) who has had similar experiences in friendlies in the past couple of weeks, and is still doing a couple more friendlies before the start of the season and it was this comment that changed my mind " I enjoy refereeing, i do it to the best of my ability and am doing what i love, and i'm not going to let a few players who have little knowledge of the laws of the game, and basic footballing skills change that "
So i have now got a "pre-season friendly" tomorrow between two clubs i have not refereed before........ tally ho! ( lone ranger theme now playing)
 
Preseason games are as much a help for match sharpness and fitness as a pain in the ass. A necessary evil though.

I will admit that there is a team I am hoping to get allocated shortly after the season starts who will very much regret taking some liberties in pre-season. Could have punished them during the game in question, but where is the fun in that? :devil::rolleyes: Much better to remind them of their misdeeds in the prematch chat and see them behave like angelic choir boys for the following 90 minutes, wondering whether or not I am going to exact some revenge on them at some point... ;)
 
SM said:
Preseason games are as much a help for match sharpness and fitness as a pain in the ass. A necessary evil though.

I will admit that there is a team I am hoping to get allocated shortly after the season starts who will very much regret taking some liberties in pre-season. Could have punished them during the game in question, but where is the fun in that? :devil::rolleyes: Much better to remind them of their misdeeds in the prematch chat and see them behave like angelic choir boys for the following 90 minutes, wondering whether or not I am going to exact some revenge on them at some point... ;)
Click to expand...

All said and done i refereed a friendly today, i recognised one team that were a pain last season with disciplinary issues, but today they played some excellent football no back chat and they won 5-1.... and yes i did hear their manager say before kick off " lads we've had this ref before and you know what he's like so i don't want any **** from you, or i'll take you off"
 
  • Like
Reactions: SM
Had phone call from my F.A. today, got a hearing in three weeks team and player contesting charges...... such fun...
 
Good luck mikedn hopefully the board of displine listen and they get there just rewards of a nice hefty fine
 
I've done 3 friendlies so far, no problems with any.

The last one was the one I thought may give me problems - home team I did two games last season seeing a total of 3 mass confrontations, resulting in 6 red cards and 1 misconduct report. Away team were physical but generally good, were good to chat to and receptive during breaks in play.

Was a piece of cake. I told the managers and captains before the game the laws would apply as a league game, as it wasn't fair on anybody to pick and choose. I told them I would be requesting subs in stead of yellows if possible, Reds were as a league game.

First 5 minutes came the first shout of 'it's only a friendly ref' following a simple foul for a push, at which point I invited home player who made the remark in for a chat. I simply asked him which laws he would like me to disregard and in which circumstances exactly. After a few seconds of thought I politely told him it wasn't practical in any way shape or form to do so, so we'd use LOTG as original. Was a light hearted chat that made him realise it was a little silly, no problems with that phrase afterwards.

Last 15 minutes and with the score at 2 - 5 away attacker goes around left back (who had only just come on), skins him easily and he's past, running down the wing. Defender somewhat frustrated fires a cynical and reckless trip at the attacker, who goes down. Immediately isolate defender to prevent mass confrontation as clearly others are angry.

Now in a league game I would have given him a yellow and severe, severe bollocking. No justification for a red, but nasty all the same. He expected a yellow, I immediately whistled to his manager to take him off, and not bring him back on again. They were a little stunned, but quickly did as asked.

The goalkeeper was moaning (surprise surprise), I advised that I hadn't sent him off, his team still had 11 on the pitch, and the player who had come back on as left back was substantially better. 'So you should actually be thanking me' with a wink. He laughed and agreed.

Others were good as gold and there was no chance of somebody else trying retribution, which is the main reason I requested the sub. I'm sure it would have resulted in more cards and possible match control issues.

As @SM said unfortunately we need these games as much as the players. The only thing we can really do is make the grey areas as black and white as possible and hope for the best.
 
I was an NAR in a pre-season friendly memorial match last night. In the second half the big striker was constantly stood offside and I probably flagged him about 8 to 10 times. After the game he calls me a cheat. I don't know why we bother !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top