Ever had to ask yourself the question: am I fit enough to referee a sports game? This week that question buzzed in my head. I was not sick enough to stay in bed the whole day. I could even work with a few painkillers. Yes, lots of sneezing and coughing. It all started last Saturday […]
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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 […]
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When a referee arrives at a club he get welcomed. Every club has organised that differently. Sometimes an 10-year-old kid who gives me a cup of tea, sometimes it’s a former referee who had to stop due to an injury. That got me thinking how professional clubs would do that. This is how referee liaison […]
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Michael van Praag has released his released his plans for the future of football. The candidate Fifa president has also announced his ideas on the future of refereeing. One of the things he aims for is an international referee academy. You can find all his refereeing plans in this blog post. International referee academy “Referees […]
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I usually don’t get nice mail in my mailbox. It’s just bills, taxes or printed ads. This week was different. I opened the mailbox and there was an envelope with the text “By air mail”. I opened and and saw that I got a Premier League badge from Howard Webb. Fantastic! Premier League badge from […]
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Former Fifa referee Ian Stokes prepares young referees for the challenges they will have to face at higher levels. He’s the Lead Tutor for the FAI School of Excellence. “Our aim is to assist these referees to achieve their maximum potential.” Ian Stokes, please introduce yourself. I grew up in Inchicore, Dublin which is close […]
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I touched lightly upon this in my year-end reflections post for 2014 but I didn’t let on to all the insight I really had. Observation has been a major source of learning for me on the refereeing journey. As you get the opportunity to assist referees further along the journey and hierarchy than you, you […]
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Bumped into this wonderful video: “Thiago Impressed by Linesman’s Skills”. It reminded me of one of my games. I blew the whistle for half-time and the ball rolled to the sideline. A player walked there and kicked the ball towards me. I did not catch the ball with my hand, but controlled it with my […]
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Referee Pieter Vink had to make two different calls this weekend. “Both I and my assistant had not seen that the ball was over the line”, he admitted. “And if there is doubt, I can’t allow the goal when then. I can’t explain then to players why I allowed the goal.” But he still signaled […]
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Since there was a cancellation the weekend before, I wasn’t active for a week. Hard not to be excited for my match appointment on Wednesday. Meanwhile my referee tan has returned. Tan lines on the arm and knees. I was stocked up to be hydrated for match day. U12 Boys Cup semi-final One of the […]
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It’s International Women’s Day 2015 on the 8th of March. A good moment for me to give the female referees which I interviewed some extra attention on the blog. And of course I’ll try to interview more female referees in 2015. Below I’ve added a few quotes from the referees I’ve already interviewed with a […]
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The Graham Norton Show had a wonderful episode about refereeing. I did not expect it, but have you ever thought of David Beckham as football referee? What he told was a nice story of how difficult it could be to referee a match of one of your kids. “I ref’d one of the games of […]
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Game day arrived earlier in the week in the form of a rescheduled game on Tuesday. New venue and all at a local high school. It’s always nice visiting new pitches. This is tourism for referees. To my surprise, the game required minimal involvement from me. I must have whistled five fouls in total over […]
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Two early week high school cup matches were on the schedule. U12 Boys Cup Quarterfinal My pre-game travel arrangements were rather different this time. I was travelling in the away team bus. Again, I cannot stress the lack of referees meaning that both teams didn’t care. Had the field not been far and I been […]
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Found a nice video online from referee Charlotte Carpenter. Who is that? you might thing. She’ll introduce herself: “I am Charlotte Carpenter and I am the first female Fifa referee from Wales.” The 26-year-old is from Abercynon, a small town where also two of the nine male referees come from. Carpenter now joins Lewiss Edwards, […]
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What if Noel Gallagher becomes referee? He tells what he would do in Match Of The Day 2: “The way managers are always digging referees and this weekend has been particular bad. I think when you’ve got Mourinho digging at referees, calling them unfit and all that – it would make me think, if I […]
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I heared a story of a few talented referees who quit refereeing before they reached the top level. Not because they were not good enough, but they felt they were not treated the right way. Such a waste of quality! And when I read a story from Jeff Weiner, CEO at LinkedIn, I thought it […]
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It was great to see Mark Clattenburg back in action in the Barclays Premier League after what felt like an age away whether intentionally or not by the PGMO. Tuesday was football day and up at 6am. I hadn’t been refereeing for a couple of weeks but this was a day to play. After a […]
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Rooney in offside position, so shouldn’t the Manchester United goal not be cancelled? My twitter account @DutchReferee exploded last night when I posted a tweet that Phil Dowd correctly allowed the goal Manchester United goal against Preston North End in the FA Cup. 62 retweets and 17 favorites (and still counting). In this case study […]
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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 […]
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