Members Blogs

A few months back, I decided to do more. A problem most grassroots referees have is they lack access to consistent and premium education. You see, when you reach the top levels of refereeing, you are provided with elite coaching and experienced coaches to help you bring your game up to be able to referee at a national and international level. But the path to get there is not easy, in most cases if you are not lucky and fail to make the right connections, you end up struggling to get proper coaching week in week out. This is a significant problem as good quality coaching is the only real way to be able to improve. Because of this problem, I decided to find a way to bring elite level coaching to grassroots referees. The first challenge...

Stopping a Promising Attack (SPA) has gone through some major changes in the past years, with disciplinary sanction changing based on the position of an offence on the Field of Play and the entity of the offence. In this article, we will cover the basics of what defines a SPA and hopefully, give you a better understanding of the decision-making process to define the entity of a disciplinary sanction. First, let’s look at what the Laws say about SPA The Law gives us a clear indication that players that commit an offence which interferes with or stops a promising attack must be cautioned, unless the referee awards a penalty kick and the foul is an attempt to play the ball (footballing challenge). This definitely helps us understand...

Our friend Max Dotto created this handball decisional flowchart to help you better understand the steps taken when judging a Handball. Feel free to save them and use them to study for your next games! Permalink Continue reading...

Our friend Max Dotto created this amazing decisional flowchart to help you better understand the steps taken when judging a DOGSO or SPA. Feel free to save them and use them to study for your next games! Permalink Continue reading...

One of the biggest parts of football refereeing is judging the severity of fouls. Many people, specially spectators, like to think they understand when and why a challenge is worthy of a yellow or a red card. However, not many understand truly why some challenges need a certain type of disciplinary challenge or not. In this article, we’ll talk about some practical guidelines that can be applied to most challenges and help us better judge and motivate a disciplinary sanction. THE LAW As always, the first thing we must do is identify where in the LoTG we can find more information about the Severity of Fouls. The obvious answer (or at least should be) is Law 12. When talking about the Severity of Fouls, we will always be looking at...

The amount of work and sacrifices these individuals make to reach the pinnacle of international football are unbelievable. These referees have dedicated their lives to one of the most hated and controversial jobs in sports so that 3.5 billion people could enjoy football. I have spent over 10 years doing that same job in Italy and Australia’s domestic leagues. I started my adventure in Milan, Italy, circa 2008, and since then I have turned into a completely different person. Back then I was quite shy, very self-conscious and lacked any type of real confidence. Today I’m the exact opposite of that 19 years old, and I owe it all to football refereeing. This is what I learned. Permalink Continue reading...

The referee podcast My life on the line is a pleasure to listen to. And it’s not because I’m in there, but they really make some good stuff. Love the other episodes as well. I had a great time with the lads from RefCoach on their podcast. You can listen to the episode with me. […] Continue reading...

The Football Tasmania Referee Quiz is something you might like. I do quizzes during the season with ABCD questions, but this quiz works with flash cards. Because you might prefer a different way of learning, this might interest you. How does the Football Tasmania Referee Quiz work? At Football Tasmania they made a lot of […] Continue reading...

How to prepare for a fitness test? That’s a crucial question before the season starts, but also when you have to pass the test later on in your season. In this blog post you receive tips on how to prepare by Stephen Oduor. He is a trained FIFA and CAF physical fitness instructor and a […] Continue reading...

EPL referee Anthony Tayor gives advice to fellow referees. He talks with The National Young Referee Development Team and I distilled some great advice for you from this video interview. Enjoy off-season and be ready when need Callum Jones talkes with referee Anthony Taylor before season restarts again after the corona lockdown. And amateur referees […] Continue reading...

Ross McMenemy is the initiator of RefChat The Refereeing Forum. It’s an online support network where referees can share their experiences and learn from each other. In this story Ross tells why you should register too, plus he adds some great tips for you to punt into practice. Go directly to the Refchat forum. How […] Continue reading...

Because offences when the ball is not in play are rare, it’s unique to see it twice during one Bundesliga weekend. But how do you need to deal with it? Check out the clips and explanation below. Felix Brych spots shirt-pulling Firstly, a situation in the game between Eintracht Frankfurt and Mainz. Thanks to readers […] Continue reading...

Week 29 Laws of the Game Quiz 2019-2020 NB: you can always find the quiz archive on this specific quiz page. Laden… Continue reading...

Dutch Referee Blog 10th anniversary video, that’s what I want to create. All you have to do is share one tip in a video message. I’d be very happy if you want to help me with that. Check below how easy you can participate. Ln June 1st 2010 I started this wonderful journey with writing […] Continue reading...

Refereeing during corona crisis. The German Bundesliga starts on May 16th, but what happens if the referee is infected? How are they tested? How are appointments done and can you safely be a VAR with social distancing? And which protocols are in place to protect players and referees during the restart of the season. You’ll […] Continue reading...

Week 28 Laws of the Game Quiz 2019-2020. Questions made by Brian Scholz. NB: you can always find the quiz archive on this specific quiz page. Laden… Continue reading...

Coronavirus and the Laws of the Game: some changes are announced by IFAB. There are options for five substitutes, leagues have the possibility to not use the video referee and leagues can choose whether they’ll use old (2019-2020) or updated/new (2020-2021) Laws of the Game. Key points from the IFAB circular There is a temporary […] Continue reading...

Week 27 Laws of the Game Quiz 2019-2020 NB: you can always find the quiz archive on this specific quiz page. Laden… Continue reading...

The documentary Kill the referee is published online and English subtitles are added as well. Now we’re all at home in lockdown, this documentary is a great thing to watch. When it released I’ve written a newspaper story for it. I’ve updated that, because that makes it more relevant. You can also find the full […] Continue reading...

How does referee Alan Kelly stay fit during the Covid 19 crisis? Alan Kelly talks about this on a webinar by Silbo, a company that automates sports officiating administration. The MLS referee has a daily morning routine – Covid 19 or not. He wears a Polar watch that measures his fitness and sleep. “First thing […] Continue reading...