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The week has barely started but I feel like I cannot possible talk about everything because what happened yesterday feels like eons ago. Practice Game I needed to prepare for my end of week game so I asked my mentor and a local assignor for a game. Any game as long as I could practice a few referee mechanics and shake off some field rust (if there is such a thing). It was a good decision because having been on the line for an extended period of time. I had to work a bit with my diagonal. It was a U18 Girls middle in a lower competition level. I wasn’t there to be a peacock referee but to do the game to the best of my ability and hopefully afford some practice. I started the first half off trying out my Blazza whistle. I was a little...

A game with the same referee from Sunday but it was nice to be working a local game and a little more time to analyse his style. Following our discussion on the previous day, I made a general comment about not seeing referees smile enough on the pitch making it difficult to know if they are enjoying it. For most of this game, every collaborative decision with me was met with a verbal thank you/thumbs-up in addition to a beaming smile with all 32 teeth! I couldn’t help but burst out laughing in my head and visibly chuckling. I knew he was enjoying the game now. I struggled to mentally adapt to the foul threshold. I was not used to seeing players playing the game as physically on the day and over the games on the weekend. I went to seek...

This part is almost exclusively for the weekend’s activities. Saturday I had a very interesting game on the Saturday. I had never officiated at this level before and it was a promising prospect. I had been fretting a bit about getting some business wear together because pre-game attire was a suit! I hadn’t worn one for years including a shirt. I’m so used to wearing t-shirts including at work because it just worked that way in my field of work. The closest I had got to was business casual for certain games. I ensured I had everything ready the night before so I could find it easily the next day and just in case I needed to borrow something last minute from someone. This photo isn’t great considering it’s on my wrinkly bed...

The Dutch Referee blog got an exclusive interview with World Cup referee Ben Williams from Australia. He answered three important questions about his selection, preparation and expectations of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Good luck with your tournament. 1. … Continue reading → Continue reading...

So in rather a completely unexpected but pleasant surprise, the new Laws of the Game is out today. Ordinarily it comes out on July 1st but they released it early in order for it to be in effect for the FIFA World Cup. The new Laws of the Game don’t take effect for any running competitions now ordinarily but would for any starting after today. Nice new shot of Bjorn Kuipers (NED) smiling. We don’t have too many of those cover photos. It will be interesting to see what games he gets this World Cup. Minor changes all in all pertaining to approval of headscarves and a stricter mandate on slogans on clothing. Here is the memo of changes which makes it easier to identify the precise changes...

Fifa made the World Cup 2014 referee appointments for first football matches Brazil. Opening match: Brazil – Croatia Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan) Assistant referees: Toru Sagara and Toshiyuki Nagi. Read the profile “Yuichi Nishimura can bring Asian refereeing to new … Continue reading → Continue reading...

In 1980 Sander van Roekel was a promising striker in the u8 team of SKV, but he got into refereeing very early in his career. When he entered professional football as referee, a member of Van Roekel’s football club wrote … Continue reading → Continue reading...

It has certainly been a very interesting week. The recovery days played well and I’ll need them again soon! Check out my Brazuca post. http://playtheadvantage.com/2014/06/07/world-cup-tech-2014-brazuca/ Plenty of assistant referee appointments. Generally that means I am able to officiate in a higher level of competition than I would ordinarily be able to referee in as a referee. It also gave me some good time to work on some improvement areas and give complete focus to it. AR and Ref appointments scattered and interleaved amongst each other make it difficult to focus on my own development and build a good habit routine. This week certainly helped and I used the wait-and-see technique more carefully, adjusted my signalling to be...

Milorad Mazic played football like most of the referees before he started officiating. “I had a bad injury”, he told Fifa. “And after that I started and became a referee.” The passion for football is the main thing that drives … Continue reading → Continue reading...

The referees will stay at the Windsor Barra Hotel in Rio de Janeiro. The hotel is located beach-front with some very nice views over the water. Most important details of the hotel at a quick glance: It has 5 stars … Continue reading → Continue reading...

You’ll have to view this on YouTube but here are video interviews/profiles with each and every official in the 2014 FIFA World Cup (Team 33) that was just recently posted! I know I’m taking a tangent with my blog on the World Cup but there’s too much excitement so I may take a detour. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCGIzmTE4d0jb_C4Gv-H9lYtiChtAy1l4 Continue reading...

During the 2014 World Cup we’ll get to know the referee vanishing spray a little better. Even the referees who officiate the friendlies before the biggest tournament in the world need to work on their vanishing spray skills. Even Howard … Continue reading → Continue reading...

It would be a lie to say nobody (that is outside a cave) has not heard of football, especially now. The World Cup fever and pre-tournament build-up is ON. The beautiful game in the host nation, Brazil. There couldn’t be a place more passionate about football than the Seleção’s own nation. A fantastic host of World Cup ads have been coming out. Check them out! FIFA has also created the participating nations’ profiles. See Brazil’s. This is the four year continuous reminder for every young referee why we are working so hard. New football stars will emerge and upsets in the making to behold. It’s hard to believe I was in Soccer City, Johannesburg only four years ago watching Howard Webb’s management of Netherlands-Spain final and...

The World Cup referees are in Brazil, but how do they train? Getty Images shot some photo’s during 2014′s Confederations Cup which online media are able to embed on their news and editorial pages. On the 6th of June their … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Cause & Effect Chart I’ve been employing a very strategic method of dealing with my areas for improvement in refereeing. Before the season started, I reviewed all of last year’s assessments and the collective feedback and constructed a two-column table. I noted the problems and removed the similarities, I had found a cause of potential issues in the game. I then classified it under the areas of the game it could affect in the seven areas below (could have multiple). Application of Law Positioning, Fitness & Work Rate Alertness & Awareness: Including Management of Stoppages Communication Teamwork Advantage Match Control This was very useful because I am able to reflect and see a direct correlation on the effect on a game and helps...

The World Cup referees arrived already in Brazil. But where do they stay and where do they have to train? “As for the teams the referees have to undergo a thorough qualification process”, says Massimo Busacca, Fifa’s head of refereeing. … Continue reading → Continue reading...

This was a hectic day because from nothing to a very tiring day with two heavy games. Also imagine that. A post dedicated to just one day of football. Game #1 I initially had this designated as laundry day and I was worn out from the week from running around for errands or games with late nights and early mornings. My plan was to sleep in on Sunday and fully recover but I groggily woke up at 11am (I had planned to wake up later) to find a message of a scheduler looking for a referee in the adjacent district for a Mens league game. I quickly judged the situation; 80km trip, 4.5 hour commitment. I needed to rent a car for any hope to get to this. I did a quick financial feasibility check. I would still be in the green to go but 81% of...

2:24 am, 15th of January 2014. An e-mail was sent to Mark Geiger from Uefa Headquarters with the news that he’d be a referee at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. “I woke up to an email and a couple … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Refereeing is absolutely not a walk in the park (despite what my posts on the blog may lead you to believe). ;) There’s definitely some lost sleep over it and some recently. It has its ups and downs. Speaking of which, World Cup is edging closer than ever and the fever is slowly catching on. With squad lists being posted, Howard Webb looking more like Bane from the Batman in his tropical fitness training, all eyes are slowly turning to Brazil. Hang on folks because almost everyone (football-lovers or not) is turning their heads. I watched a bit of Futsal early in the week. A colleague was playing and another colleague refereeing the game so to watch a fixture from the league’s debut season, I went to watch. A nice escape and great to...

Hi everyone, Predicting the World Cup referees in December and January was kind of difficult. That Fifa picked less match officials than previous tournaments did not make it easier. Viktor Kassai, not chosen for this World Cup, was even picked … Continue reading → Continue reading...