Members Blogs

The inimitable UK weather and the holiday period has put paid to quite a few of my appointments over the last few weeks to the extent that I have only been out on three assessments since my last blog post over six weeks ago. There has also been something else keeping me away from the keyboard and that has been the day job or to be more accurate, the secondment that was supposed to turn into the new day job. If working in medium to large companies over the last 31 years has taught me anything it is that change is the only thing that is permanent. In today's business world, the pace of change, often driven by technological advance, moves forward in hops, steps and jumps. On previous occasions, I have been lucky enough to be riding along...

I visit the online referee appointment system a few times a day. Refresh it, or log in again. And again. Winter break has lasted long enough. I want my first match appointment of 2013. Especially because I’m coming back from … Continue reading → The post Winter break: waiting for my first 2013 match appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

Referees in the media will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. Mike Riley, the general manager of the Professional Game Match … Continue reading → The post Referee is the boss in the stadium (+4 more stories) appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

Arnold Hunter from Northern Ireland is happy he officiated such beautiful matches since he became a referee. Next Saturday he’ll be up for another top match in his home country: the cup final between Cliftonville and Crusaders. The second part … Continue reading → The post Northern Ireland referee wants te become Elite appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

Referee Arnold Hunter from Northern Ireland recently got promoted by Uefa to the international Second Group. His goal is become an Elite referee. That’s what he says in an interview with the Dutch Referee Blog. The 33-year-old referee from Fermanagh, … Continue reading → The post Arnold Hunter feels honoured to be a referee appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

The Belgian FA has started the campaign “I like referees” earlier this season. Uefa referee boss Pierluigi Collina likes referees too. “I think it’s important to support, help and assist the referees, so any action to promote refereeing is very … Continue reading → The post Pierluigi Collina likes referees appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

Referees in the media will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. The first quotes section of referees in the media in … Continue reading → The post Referees in the media 2013 (week 1 and 2) appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

Dutch tv program Bureau Sport made a nice documentary in Suriname. TV host Frank Evenblij visits referee Enrico Wijngaarde. The tv show presenter stresses that Dutch referees have been active on the most important international tournaments. Dick Jol and Mario … Continue reading → The post Enrico Wijngaarde: top referee in the Caribean appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

Assistant referee John Brooks has some advice for the Manchester City players shaking his hands after the match against Arsenal: Go to your fans, who paid a huge fee for a ticket, and thank them for coming. Fans of Manchester … Continue reading → The post Linesman advices City players to thank their fans appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

This week I completed my first full training session after my broken ankle. One day later: no ankle pain, only sore legs. It feels great. Sharing this happy news on Facebook I got asked what kind of training session I … Continue reading → The post Referee training session: the pyramid run appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

2012 was a good year for DutchReferee.com. The site got more interesting articles and more people have read them. Thank you all for reading, commenting, sharing or liking! If you have any suggestions, just let me know. Already got some … Continue reading → The post DutchReferee.com in 2012 appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

Fifa will be releasing awards on the 7th of January for the best player (Ballon d’Or), best coach, most beautiful goal, a lifetime achievement and fair play. In the end the worth reading blog World Of Football Refereeing elected Cuneyt … Continue reading → The post Fifa Ballon d’Or: Who’s your referee of 2012? appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

Ingvar Gudfinnsson has quit international refereeing only two years ago, but he misses it a lot. The Icelandic assistant referee now helps other referees to reach the top. The AR has officiated with center referee Kristin Jakobsson some very nice … Continue reading → The post Ingvar Gudfinnsson: Life after refereeing appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

Referees in the media will be published at the beginning of the week on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. Due to holidays and incident in Dutch football, I made … Continue reading → The post Referees in the media (week 49 – 52) appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

Watching the movie The Iron Lady, I noticed a refereeing whistle on the passenger seat of Margaret Thatcher’s car. Why is she having a referee whistle there? It surprised me and it’s still a mystery to me. I’ve added a … Continue reading → The post The Iron Lady and her refereeing whistle appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

A series of interivews by FAtv with Howard Webb. I made an overview for you with all six clips. Enjoy. Part 1: The World Wide Webb. “When I got to about 17, my dad said, ‘clearly Howard, you’re not going … Continue reading → The post Referee Howard Webb’s interviews on FAtv appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

No, not wrong law. We're talking about your movement around the field! The top referees always seem to get into the best viewing positions on the field, but this does not occur by accident. It comes through years of good practice at one of the game’s basic skills. You can know the laws inside out, but if you are badly positioned at the vital moment you can easily attract the wrong kind of attention from players, team coaches and assessors. Your many games as a referee will confirm much of what you have been told about where you need to be to obtain the best views of all that is happening. You will learn when you need to be a little closer to the main action and also when to hang back a little in order to have a wider view. Yes, you can...

Is there any aspect of refereeing that makes the official look unsure of himself more than lazy signalling? We are speaking here not only of referees but of assistant referees also. Too often do we see a referee offer a directional signal with his arm held slackly out almost as if it contained no muscles to give it strength, and it is also probably a forearm signal rather than a full arm one. Upon seeing a few such arm-signals, a spectator was heard to say, “If I were playing in this game I’d start to give this ref a bit of aggro. He looks as if he’s frightened of upsetting everybody.” Lazily given signals —- for that is exactly what they are —- give confidence to nobody. Avoid them like the plague! When the ball goes out of play for a...

And all these years I’ve studied and tried to apply the offside law! It used to be a bit easier some years back than it is now. What with being in an offside position but not being offside, and being active and not being active, it’s all very confusing at times. Then a player might look onside but the ball rebounds and he’s offside now because he was in an offside position earlier! He used to be offside if he was level, but not now. He could at one time be played onside if the ball touched an opponent as it was passed towards him. A mate of mine says it’s easier to understand a solicitor’s letter than the offside law! And suddenly we hear that it’s not complicated at all. I’m not sure who said so, but some bright spark has decided that...

“To play or not to play, that is the question”, words first uttered by William Shakespeare who played in goal for Brentford! Whenever you apply advantage in a game you have to consider the football skills needed to fashion a goal-scoring opportunity from your shout of “Advantage, Play on”, coupled with the double-arm signal which, when given on the run, makes you sound like a neutered tomcat. You also have to consider in which part of the field play is operating, and for an advantage to have any chance it needs to be the attacking third of the field. Consider also whether it would affect your control for the rest of the game. So there is plenty to think about. Let us consider this scenario. Play is in the final third of the field, and a...