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A day’s rest that was well-used. Soon off for my next game on Saturday. I met to carpool with a senior and highly experienced referee in my area. He was also one of my favourite assessors since he breaks down the cause and effect relationship very well. It’s clear to see what I need to work on to resolve issues I have in the game. It goes a little beyond the identification process and more into analysis. It was also a longer than usual amount of time to chat with someone since we were travelling together which was a nice experience. I reflected on my season with him briefly in addition to two games (one he had assessed me on and another that he had worked with me on) that were both in pivotal moments of the season. With pre-game...

If you haven’t already tried these, you are missing out. Card skins are plastic see-through stickers that can be stuck onto a regular card and easily removed as well. What’s the difference between this and a write-on card you ask? Reasons why I love the card skins: No damage to cards when stuck on and peeled off Writing comes off easily Can be used with whichever set of cards I prefer to use Don’t need to use unless there is a shower (I’m old-fashioned enough to use paper match cards as long as I can) I prefer using large discipline yellow and red cards which is similar to the b&d (Germany) card sizing. I haven’t heard a single person say anything bad about this product yet. Why? Because it’s fantastic! Here’s a look at me...

I talked with George Postma, a Fifa instructor, about a course he gave about Beachsoccer refereeing in Tanzania. He went there in 2013, but story is still interesting to give an insight in what referees can do to develop refereeing … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Young match officials can become better by going to the Young Referee Development Programme. Thomas Whay was one of the guys who could go there and learn from it. Daniel Meeson, The FA’s National Referee Development Manager responsible for Volunteers, … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Referees are humans too right? They also take part in the social hype: check out video’s of the Referee Ice Bucket Challenge. For who doesn’t know what this challenge is, Wikpedia helps out: It is an “activity involving dumping a … Continue reading → Continue reading...

No games on the first day of the week but I was phoned by a younger referee nervous about getting his first official assessment. He was in the middle for a mid-competitive youth age group. Instead of lecturing him, I asked him how he had prepared and how he intended to go about doing certain aspects of the game. He seemed to be in the right frame of mind but just missing the confidence. After chatting for a few hours with him when he came over to my place, he calmed down and gave me a surprise hug and thanked me for settling him down. I think this is absolutely crucial to mention because it varies how the football season is and the intensity of games during the week. Foot care and fatigue. It’s absolutely crucial to take care of both...

This did not start off as a fun week. I was at work late on Monday. I mean quite late. I was at the bus stop waiting for the bus when the Assessment report e-mail had arrived. My heart was in my mouth. I knew it wouldn’t be good but the question is how bad. What feedback would I get? Start of week There wasn’t much which was rather disappointing and it wasn’t positive whatsoever either… I called a few friends to discuss. It was a bit of a numbing feeling. All I could then remember was the abuse I received during the game. I didn’t sleep very well that night. It was a huge blow to my self-confidence and made me question whether I was cut out for this. I went through four of the first five stages of grief for the rest of the week...

A Colombian lawyer sued Fifa over World Cup refereeing decisions in the quarter final match between his national team and Brazil. According to BBC he wants the world football governing body to pay him 1bn euros because of “moral damages”. … Continue reading → Continue reading...

A new case study from the German Super Cup between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. After Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the 2-0 for Dortmund he reaches behind is sock to get a superman mask. He was not cautioned by referee Peter … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Half the week is no refereeing but doesn’t mean training has stopped. Actually I have to be fair. This is my first training session all season because I haven’t had a break like this at all. Was good for the off-time to be controlled on my own terms but since it isn’t in-game, I notice fatigue more during training since there are no fouls to focus on. A great opportunity for recovery. In the meantime, I wrote up my first assessment report for an assistant referee as practice. Definitely felt time-consuming just doing it for one member of the crew. Now I know what it feels like doing a quality report for three officials! Definitely takes time. I’ve decided to wait till the end of the season to decide what becomes of my refereeing but...

Samuel Ranz is a young 22 year-old referee from Spain. “I don’t account on being a professional ref, that only happens to a very few of us”, he says. But he always wants to set a good performance on the … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Twitter exploded today after Howard Webb announced his new job as Technical Director. Here are 9 interesteing and inspiring quotes on Howard Webb’s retirement. 1. Howard Webb inspired many referes in England, as Pillaton-Referee tweets: Happy retirement #Howardwebb One of … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Howard Webb retires from refereeing and becomes Technical Director at PGMOL. His retirement is announced in a statement on the website of the Premier League. “I am very excited to start this new chapter in my career after a wonderfully … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Getting a different experience by refereeing abroad could help you grow as referee. Andreas Porsborg Andersen did and became a referee in China for a short time. “I think it makes me a better referee and that also can help … Continue reading → Continue reading...

The week started off with celebrations that fasting had finished. I was at work late on the first day but a need-a-referee help e-mail came out in the evening and I decided to respond and go. After all, I didn’t have other plans. Another 250km trip. This was my second time going to this field so I was somewhat familiar with getting to the field. The assignor was on the line and a familiar name popped up as the other AR so I decided that this game may be interesting for the referee team involved alone. The feedback I received for this game was that I needed to work on anticipating play. This is when I finally realised how bad it must look to hang back having watched so many referees on television remain almost always in the picture...

George Gansner will referee his 200th MLS game on Sunday 3rd of August. I’ts an honour for him to reached this milestone. “I’ve had some great experiences, learning from the guys who were originals on the FIFA assistant referee list … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Week 28 Fasting has been going on for a while now. Halfway point is passed and I’m sure it’ll be done sooner than I know it but it has been difficult managing it in general. I had an Over-35 Mens game to cover on the first day of the week. A friend needed me to cover the game so I accepted. He was able to give me a ride to the field in return since it was out of bus access but not that far either. The game was a rather chatty one with a lot of dissent. I had been warned that it was generally the worst age group to be officiating in in general. I was working with two very familiar officials who I was happy to see. I had brought my Iftar (dinner) to the game and was ready to have it at half-time but some of the player requested a slight...

The Spanish referees are ready for the new season. They trained in Santander with the referee organisation Comité Técnico de Árbitros (CTA). During the four day meeting they got sessions about duelling between players with a focus on the use … Continue reading → Continue reading...

I enjoyed a great holiday in West-Canada during my summer break, but I must admit that I do miss refereeing now. I’m really looking forward to the start of the season. No more “whistle stop”, let’s start with the (football … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Referee Ravshan Irmatov is awarded with Order of People’s Honour of Uzbekistan. The match official officiated at 2014′s World Cup in Brazil. All three major football papers devote their frontpage to Uzbekistan’s World Cup referees they day after the event. … Continue reading → Continue reading...