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Slow stuff all-in-all for refereeing or at least I thought so. Week 14 Absolutely swamped in the early part with studying for back-to-back exams that I didn’t have any time to think about refereeing or football whatsoever then. At the end of Week 14, our team travelled away for friendly match in the big city. I travelled as the team manager along with them. It was an affair for a lot of behind-the-scenes organisation as the two game times had to be finalised and we had to search for a replacement keeper to keep the game on. One of my friends filled in there and I took him out for dinner as a thank you after the games. It was a full day’s commitment but a lot of fun and interesting to see our team put to the test with our first...

The Dutch King has “his” first party in 2014 because queen Beatrix abdicated last year. There are lot of festivities on King’s Day around the country. But who is king Willem-Alexander? And what can people – and especially referees – … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Afternoon, I've just started a blog not only about refereeing but also about cricket with a brief section about my school work. Hope you'll take the time to give it a read and any feedback is very welcome. http://jackprescott97.wordpress.com/

Hi all, I have started my own blog on refereeing, which is based on my refereeing journey, I would really appricitate it if any of your could regualry read it, give me any feedback and let your colleges know about it. http://therefereesagreatbloke.wordpress.com/

I have a feeling this post will attract a lot of attention. Why you ask? The word FIFA in it of course! I’ve seen a lot of posts from referees around the world about getting stuff/equipment from FIFA and I always wondered how to do it so in a nutshell, here’s what I did to nail this scoop of items. Direct Approach This was trial and error because the first time certainly didn’t work. Simple as it was, I chatted with the referees who did get the equipment and they said it took a simple letter to the FIFA Refereeing Department. I drafted my own letter and sent it in but to my disappointment received a reply letter a few weeks later short of any satisfactory response. I would attach the response I got here but it was...

A strange yellow card givenby referee in the Sweedish football league match between Hammarby IF and Degerfors IF. Jan Gunnar Solli from the hometeam pulls up his shirt just as the ball touches his belly/chest. He pulls the shirt down … Continue reading → Continue reading...

I was watching a FIFA Futuro DVD video on referee fitness and gazed in awe at one particular clip showing multiple back-to-back counter-attacks done by both teams on the field causing the referee to run at full tilt all around the pitch. The amount of running was noticeably exhaustive however, it really opened the eyes of those who didn’t notice right away. Having watched a recent friendly between Germany and Chile, I stumbled upon this clip early in the match under the management of Mark Clattenburg (ENG). Referee Match Fitness from larbitre on Vimeo. These are High Intensity runs and a muscle pull early in the match is all you need during one of these bursts to be out of commission. This video is a great example of the benefits...

The video referee is not (yet) introduced in the biggest footall competitions. But Jamie Carragher wants that to change. The former Liverpool defender says that a video referee needs to decide wether a free kick is inside or outside the … Continue reading → Continue reading...

The back-pass rule in football is sometimes still very difficult for players and even referees. The Laws of the Game say: “An indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a goalkeeper, inside his own penalty area, commits … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Tofik Bakhramov is the only referee in the world with a statue. He’s one of the 414 statues from 56 different nations in the World Football Statues Database, published on 7th of April 2014. The website displays databases for all … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Guy Ramos, a Roda JC player, grabbed the crotch of his opponent Aron Johansson. The referee missed the situation in the Dutch Eredivisie match, but the camera’s in the stadium caught it (of course) on tape. If you’d have seen … Continue reading → Continue reading...

It was hard not to look forward to these set of games and hard not to dread it. This was potentially the last set of games I would do for a very long time in both football and Futsal. Sometimes they merge together in my mind because I love officiating both. I was busy with a crazy upcoming week and a lot on my mind earlier on the day but the walk to the Futsal court from home does wonders to help clear my mind and get into game mode. The anticipation is always high for me for these games. I can feel the excitement walking up the steps to the facility. I turned the corner to the corridor with the gym entrance and saw both teams stretching and getting ready. They greeted me as I walked in. One of the perks is that everyone knows I...

Pierluigi Collina is still a very popular referee. Many fans wanted to take a photo with him at the when he gave the lecture “The Art of Decision Making: Transform and Stay on Top of Your Game” at the Singapore … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Betfair launches a robot referee. “No longer will referee miss key decisions on the pitch”, says a robotics engineer. The video is just published on YouTube, a bit late for April Fools’ Day, but it got me thinking about the … Continue reading → Continue reading...

The goalie’s knee when he’s coming out of the goal trying to grab the ball out of the air. The football referee need to decide whether he is protecting himself or endangering the opponent. Bending the knee forward as a … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Referees of three confederations (UEFA, AFC and OFC) met in Zürich for a seminar prior to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. “Seminars like this are important to reset our focus”, says Felix Brych. “We are in the middle … Continue reading → Continue reading...

End of Week 12 brought a few difficult long-term decisions. I had the choice to make a decision that would help my referee career when looking at job opportunities but despite how much I love it, it isn’t a priority in that decision. It’s my favourite hobby but it’s just that; a hobby. Interesting to see how this will affect the long-run. I still have no clue what I’m doing during the main part of the season and if I will be missing the main part of it. Fitness Fitness test preparation has stalled. I haven’t run since… Well I can’t remember. I need to check my Garmin Connect. February 28th. Last month! Still refereeing but nothing that is maintaining or improving fitness. Hope this student lifestyle isn’t killing it all. I just...

Photo series: World Cup preparation for referees. The photo’s are made Lorenzo Fontani, a Sky Sport journalist. He published them on Twitter and I embedded them in the blog post below. All referees doing their excercises. #arbitri #Mondial2014 chi riconosce … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Two head stamps by football players last weekend. How do you think of those situations? On purpose or just an accident? Please let me know your thoughts. The first situation is at the Spanish derby between Real Madrid and Barcelona … Continue reading → Continue reading...

Week 11 has been the quietest of all weeks perhaps. Preparing to take another trip to Dubai, I phoned in to the Football Association’s Referee Department to ensure I completed my fitness test requirements prior to departing. Luckily I just had to delay my flight by just one day to accommodate the requirement. Feels so fancy saying this with flights and fitness tests and all. A lot of early mornings for team training as well. I’ve been observing a lot and taking photos to keep for the team. Definitely an interesting perspective to Futsal in coaching. More to come in the coming weeks and this is the only break I get from work at this point. A referee meeting on Week 11 Friday to discuss play-offs for the university Futsal league as...