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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...

As a former Premier League Assistant (1994-98) and Football League Referee (1998-2004) Lee Cable, now a National List Assessor and Regional Referee Coach, has much experience and wisdom to impart. The advice he gave us at a recent meeting of Kingston Referees’ Society was relevant to all levels of the game. Pre-Match Preparation • Know the Laws, including Interpretation and Guidelines • Be fit enough for the game you’ve been appointed to • Deal with admin efficiently • Look good: kit and personal appearance Selling Decisions Ideally, there are no surprises, with nobody saying, “What was that for?” Effective communication will enable others to understand your decisions. • Confident body language • Clear, positive signals • Use whistle...

PROACTIVE - Taking the initiative by actions, tending to make things happen. REACTIVE - Reacting to events, situations and stimuli spontaneously. When the ball goes dead good referees come alive. All referees are reactive. The best are also proactive. The ball is dead for around 20 of the 90 minutes of a match. INITIAL GENERAL QUESTIONS FOR DEADBALL SITUATIONS Did my position make the decision credible? Am I in the best position for the restart? Do I need to check my watch? Do I need to keep an eye on a particular player? Do I need to watch a pair of players? Do I need to move closer to them? Do I need to check that assistants are OK? Do I need to keep an eye on those on the touchline? Do I need to speak to a manager/ coach/ club rep...

Before considering a few useful comments that you might make to players on the field of play, you might think about a few general hints. Some of them you may already know about, but it will do no harm if you think about all of them. First of all, remember that your bearing will reflect your confidence. Do not slouch your way onto the field before the tossing of the coin, because if you do the players will notice it and your game will not proceed in the best possible way. Are you aware of the difference between confidence and arrogance? The first is your friend; the second is definitely your enemy. Nobody likes an arrogant referee, except those players who enjoying causing you some grief. Never watch the ball that is kicked high into...

This version of Referees in the media will be different, because a Dutch linesman has died because of an attack after a football match. You can read the full story of the incident with Nieuwenhuizen with updates on my blog. … Continue reading → The post Referees in the media (Richard Nieuwenhuizen) appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...

As the last two posts indicated it's been a long week and it was good to finish it off by completing the latest Basic Course for New Referees with 24 successful candidates. We originally started with 27 but lost one before the first session and lost two between week one and two. Today's session included an exercise on misconduct offering candidates the chance to practice dealing with situations where players are cautioned, receive a second caution in the same game and also situations where they dismiss for a single offence. To wrap this session up we simulate a mass confrontation to see how a candidate deals with it and we pull out the learning points. Today we set up the scenario with some "spectators", some "runners" and around 20...

To follow up on the other post about the last week, there's been some other things happening which I wanted to mention. One story as been unavoidable and that was the shocking news from The Netherlands where an Assistant Referee, Richard Nieuwenhuizen, was attacked by players after an U16 game. After the attack he collapsed and despite being treated in hospital, died the next day. What made this all the more tragic was that his son was playing in the game and may have witnessed the attack. All amateur football in The Netherlands has been suspended this week as a mark of respect and there is a campaign on Twitter to mark this weekend as #RespectforRichard weekend. On a lighter note, one of the oldest questions was answered as...

If a week can be a long time in politics it can be even longer in football during the winter months. Teams at and around my level of football have games postponed and the old saying that the devil finds work for idle hands springs to mind. For some this can mean tinkering with their team, others it means tinkering with the management and even for referees, the lack of games can result in them getting involved in discussions they should leave well alone. Fortunately for me it has been an extremely busy week with more in prospect. Last Saturday I travelled to Doncaster for a Supply League assessment and watched an exciting game between two teams at opposite ends of the league. The result went the way of the visitors who consolidated...

In tribute to slain Dutch referee Richard Nieuwenhuizen, referees around the world will change their avatars or profile photos to the logo of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). The tribute will be timed to coincide with a silent march in Richard’s hometown of Almere on Sunday, 9 December 2012, at 17:00 local time (16:00 UTC; 11:00 AM EST in North America). Referees, players, coaches and supporters are encouraged to post their thoughts on this senseless tragedy during the tribute, followed by the hash tag #RESPECTforRichard. Webmasters are encouraged to post a graphic tribute to Richard at the same start time. A suggested graphic tribute is previewed below. We propose a tribute period of a minimum of 24 hours and maximum of 7...

Three teenagers face manslaughter charges because of the death of assistant referee Richard Nieuwenhuizen. The kids have to appear in court Thursday 6th of December for the first time. A judge will decide if the detention of the suspects will be extended. The prosecutor already announced will then officially be charged with manslaughter, assault and public violence for alleged involvement in an incident last weekend after the match between youth teams form Buitenboys and Nieuw Sloten. In the Dutch referee system it’s common that parents or club members officiate as a linesman on almost all amateur levels. Buitenboys linesman Nieuwenhuizen was flagging his son’s match and afterwards he was beaten up by three players from Nieuw Sloten...

The cold weather arrived in Europe. But how do we dress because of the low temperature and icy wind? I normaly try to write down the scores with my cold fingers. I tried gloves once many years ago. It helped a little against getting cold fingers, but writing down info about cards and goals wasn’t any easier. Last week I saw special ‘referee gloves’. They’re for sale for 24.95 euro at RefereeWorld. They look pretty normal compared to other gloves, so I’m still wondering what makes them ‘referee gloves’. The post Gloves designed for football referees appeared first on Dutch Referee Blog. Continue reading...