Members Blogs

L'arbitre Blog - Week 8

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 […] Continue reading...

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L'arbitre Blog - Week 7

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 […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - First female Fifa referee from Wales

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, […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - What if Noel Gallagher becomes referee

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 […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - How FA’s can retain talented referees

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 […] Continue reading...

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L'arbitre Blog - Week 6

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 […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - Rooney in offside position but not interfering with play

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 […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - Playing without number: what would you do?

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 […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - Shouting at referee 3 times per game

Shouting at referee, which player hasn’t done it? Yes, I was commenting a lot on the referee as well. Not aggressively, but I knew the rules better – at least that’s what I thought. This season I was in a dressing room with a fellow referee who asked me: If a player moans three times […] Continue reading...

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L'arbitre Blog - Week 4 & 5

Week 4 Fresh of Game #2, I had to manage my recovery well because Game #3 was the next day. I did a bit of my post-game stretch in the car, on the metro ride and then fully once I got home. After showering and getting changed, I thought an early night was a good […] Continue reading...

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L'arbitre Blog - Bus Ref

So sometimes refereeing isn’t all as glamorous as I peg it out to be. What do I refer to? Travel! It’s a struggle trying to move up as a referee without a car. Since I’m in that predicament for the time-being, you can see in each post on this blog, a part of the adventure […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - Barry Kelly: lessons from a hurling referee

Barry Kelly is a top class hurling referee. I have to admit I didn’t know what kind of sport it was when I went to Dublin. But eventhough I am not familiair with it, Kelly gave me some wonderful tips and lessons I can use as football referee. If you don’t know hurling either, check […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - Photo’s DHC Delft C1 – Feyenoord C1

This weekend I officiated a youth match between DHC Delft C1 – Feyenoord C1 (under 15 teams). Was it on? A member of the home club called me in the morning that there was a little bit of snow on the pitch, but temperatures were rising and snow would start to melt. The first thing […] Continue reading...

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L'arbitre Blog - Game #2 Part 2

Half-Time At half-time, I proceeded back to have a drink after the teams stepped off the field. I went to check on the away team attacker who was sitting on a bench in the shade holding his nose. His team and coach had gone off to the corner flag to have a tactical discussion. I […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - Nonverbal communication as a referee

The modern game as we love it, is a game that’s undoubtedly challenging to referee in this ever growing technological era where referees are constantly under scrutiny. However I’m writing this article on nonverbal communication as a referee to show you that refereeing isn’t all about what we say, nor the countless disputed decisions we […] Continue reading...

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L'arbitre Blog - Game #2 Part 1

Well I never expected to be writing this post so early. Game #2 of the season usually arrives in the May-ish timeframe but this time, the football season starting so soon is an early Christmas (or whichever holiday you celebrate)! I had a late morning wake-up. What else? I’m on holiday. I ate a quick […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - Dutch Eredivisie referees get younger

Dutch Eredivisie referees are younger than 10 years ago. Nine of nineteen referees are under 33 years old. A decade ago only three out of twenty were that young. That’s what newspaper Volkskrant reports. “We got a group of referees with a lot of international experience plus young talented refs who can make progress”, says […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - Jordi Alba got hit by assistant referee

Strange situation in the Spanish Cup match: Jordi Alba got hit by assistant referee. Alba tried to get the ball and walked over the line. The assistant referee signalled for a throw-in for Atletico Madrid and the Barca player tried to walk back as soon as possible. He ran on right side of the AR, […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - Pedro Proenca retires from refereeing

Pedro Proenca retires from refereeing. The Portugese referee confirmed his retirement during a press conference in the headquarters of the Portuges Football Federation (FPF). “I announce today the end of my career”, he told several media. His international career started in 2003 and Pedro Proenca retires at the age of 44. Based on FPF stats: […] Continue reading...

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Dutch Referee Blog - Salary Premier League referee can be £100,000

What a difference: my match fee: £16,00 versus match fee of Premier League referee: £1.000. And that’s not it, they also get £65.000 (basic salary Premier League referee per year). The Premier League referees belong to the Select Group of referees. The National Group – Football League referees – earn about 380 pounds and work […] Continue reading...

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