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Saturday 25th AugustSwansea City v West Ham United Referee: M Atkinson Assistants: S Burt, D Cann Fourth Official: L Probert Aston Villa v Everton Referee: M Oliver Assistants: R West, M Scholes Fourth Official: P Tierney Manchester United v Fulham Referee: K Friend Assistants: M Mullarkey, J Flynn Fourth Official: P Gibbs Norwich City v Queens Park Rangers Referee: M Clattenburg Assistants: S Beck, S Child Fourth Official: D Webb Southampton v Wigan Referee: A Taylor Assistants: A Garratt, M McDonough Fourth Official: D Mohareb Sunderland v Reading Referee: N Swarbrick Assistants: D Bryan, A Holmes Fourth Official: M Halsey Tottenham Hotspur v West Bromwich Albion Referee: M Dean Assistants: J Collin, J Brooks Fourth Official: F Graham...

‘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. “I don’t know what came over me. It was silly. It was 100% stupid. It was ridiculous. I’m still embarrassed by it. I’ve never doing anything like that before. I’ll have to take my punishment.” Newcastle coash Alan Pardew after he pushed assistant referee Peter Kirkup. “If I see you after, I kill you.” The death threat of Adis Jahovic in the Swiss league. He got a ban of ten matches. Last week I published about referee abuse in The Netherlands and harder punishments. What do you think about a ten match ban for a death threat? John Cooper, secretary of the...

Tim Cahill scored his first goal for New York Red Bulls after his move from Everton this summer. Unfortunately it was somewhat controversial. Watch the video and see if you can spot the issue that the commentators couldn’t figure out. Tip you will need sound! Yep that’s right the Referee blows for a penalty and runs towards the spot before Cahills shot on target. At that momment the game is dead, instead the Referee tries to give the advantage to New York. I understand what he is doing but there are two bits where he fails, one he has stopped play, but also if he is going to play the advantage then he needs to signal this. Related Articles Everton midfielder Tim Cahill set for move to MLS and New York Red Bulls...

During Saturdays West Ham vs Aston Villa match Kevin Nolan scored the hammers first goal back in the Premier League. However initally it looked like it was going to be rulled out as the assistant signaled for an offside. However Mike Dean spotted the flick on by the Villa defender which allowed the West Ham player not to be offside. Remeber it is not an offence to be in an offside position alone. Related Articles West Ham beats Villa in PL (iol.co.za) West Ham1-0 Aston Villa: Match report, pictures and video highlights (thesun.co.uk) Premier League Preview: West Ham – Aston Villa (goal.com) Filed under: Premier League, Season 2012/13 Tagged: Aston Villa, Aston Villa F.C., Kevin Nolan, Mike Dean, Premier League, Villa, West...

The Dutch FA has tried to diminish excessiveness on pitches in amateur football by punishing harder. Totally 200 people got banned for 2-10 years, 105 teams were ruled out of their competition and 74 persons may never play football anymore. That only happened five times in total in the seasons before, stated the FA. Secretary of Health & Sport Edith Schippers. Press photo provided by Rijksoverheid.nl The number of rough incidents (f.e. beating up a referee or kicking a player who’s lying on the ground) has decreased from 30 each weekend to 25, after years of increase. “It goes the right way again”, says Secertary of Health & Sports Edith Schippers, who started a campaign for a safer sports climate last year. “But we are not there yet.”...

Man United new look strike force Filed under: Howard Webb Tagged: Howard Webb, Premier League, rvp Continue reading...

This incident took place in the league cup this week. It’s an interesting one with the assistant signalling for offside the ball goes back to the goalkeeper who when challenged head buts his opponent. The referee sends him him off after consultation with his assistant. A few thoughts on the incident struck me straight away. If the player is offside has the referee blown straight away and the ball has gone back to the keeper to be setup for the offside, and if so technically the ball is out of ay and restart is the offside. Has he played advantage given the space the keeper has to keep the game moving, and but is there an advantage when the ball is back there? Note -Post edited as for some reason the video did not upload when I posted...

This incident took place in the league cup this week. It’s an interesting one with the assistant signalling for offside the ball goes back to the goalkeeper who when challenged head buts his opponent. The referee sends him him off after consultation with his assistant. > A few thoughts on the incident struck me straight away. If the player is offside has the referee blown straight away and the ball has gone back to the keeper to be setup for the offside, and if so technically the ball is out of ay and restart is the offside. Has he played advantage given the space the keeper has to keep the game moving, and but is there an advantage when the ball is back there? Filed under: Season 2012/13, Video, youtube Tagged: Football, league cup...

Football referees on national top level will all appear in their new outfit the next weeks. Brands made all some new referee kits for the 2012/2013 season. Earlier this week Expedia announced a new deal as sponsor for several UK soccer competitions. “We’re proud to be the new sponsors of match officials”, said Andrew Warner, senior marketing director of Expedia EMEA, to sportspromedia.com. “As the world’s largest online travel agent it seemed logical to associate with a sport that has a truly global audience.” Referees will use the Umbro Diamond kit. The British Premier League starts next weekend. Continue reading...

To celebrate International Paralympic Day and the launch of the London 2012 Paralympic Games ticketing process , a selection of Leicester City first team players took on a group of visually impaired local footballers, including 2 players in the England Development Squad, in a blind penalty shootout competition. Related Articles Disorder threat cancels friendly (bbc.co.uk) Sunderland News: Phil Bardsley set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines (journallive.co.uk) Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: FC Leicester City, Leicester City, London, Paralympic Games 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. “I very seldom have trouble. I find it is all about being able to respect players but operate control, instead of diving into your pockets for yellow and red cards. It is quite simple, really.” John Leeman (79), honoured for 65 years of refereeing. And he’s still out on the pitch most weekends. With the increased tempo, heat and pressure in Serbia it was clear what toll that takes on your body and how important it is to put the training in.” Bobby Madden on the importance of a recovery training after a matchday, even if you have a busy schedule. “I’m talking...

The appointments for the opening weekends fixtures have been confiemd by the Premier League. Saturday 18th August Arsenal v Sunderland Referee: C Foy Assistants: S Beck, S Child Fourth Official: T Kettle Fulham v Norwich City Referee: M Oliver Assistants: C Breakspear, M Scholes Fourth Official: R East Queens Park Rangers v Swansea City Referee: L Probert Assistants: D Bryan, R Ganfield Fourth Official: G Scott Reading v Stoke City Referee: K Friend Assistants: J Flynn, D C Richards Fourth Official: R Lewis West Bromwich Albion v Liverpool Referee: P Dowd Assistants: S Ledger, H Lennard Fourth Official: N Swarbrick West Ham United v Aston Villa Referee: M Dean Assistants: J Collin, S Long Fourth Official: C Berry Newcastle...

Belgian referees drilled for the next football season. Wonderful promo at the start of the new football season: ‘No whistle, no game!’ See video below, with English subtitles. Continue reading...

Stumbled upon this video of a friendly match between Fortuna Düsseldorf and Benfica via some referees on Facebook. It’s crazy! So sad that Luisão from the Portuguese team knocks down referee Christian Fischer at the moment he tries to give a second yellow card for a Benfica player at last five mintues of the first half. Or was it a headbutt? In the beginning someone is moving in front of the camera, but if you take a look at the last thirty seconds of the video it really looks like it. I hope Uefa or Portuguese FA will give him a long ban, eventhough it was a friendly and not an official match. (Does someone know what rules are with those pre-season friendlies?) I’m very happy my friendlies were much more sportive. Even got a huge...

I have set up a fantasy league on the PremierLeague.com if you want to join and to be honest do better than me. Then please do and join using code 475533-128354 Filed under: Uncategorized Continue reading...

The traditional curtain raiser to the new season will be this year refereed by Kevin Freind. The match between Chelsea and Man City will take place on the 12th August. Kevin will be assisted by Assistant Referees Michael McDonough and Richard West. Fourth Official will be Anthony Taylor (Cheshire CFA) with Reserve Assistant Referee Charles Breakspear (Surrey CFA) Filed under: Season 2012/13 Tagged: Anthony Taylor, Assistant Referee, England, FIFA, referee Continue reading...

In the dressing room: now in the referees changing room in the Ricoh Arena of Coventry City Football Club. But today I should say the City of Coventry Stadium, because the building is hosting the women’s bronze medal match at the Olympics and International Olympic Committee does not allow sponsored stadiums. Thanks to ‘LeamDavid on Flickr’ I can show you where referee Jenny Palmqvist and her assistants will prepare for the match between Canada and France, today at 13pm (GMT). Referees dressing room at Ricoh Arena from Coventry City. Referees dressing room at Ricoh Arena from Coventry City. You can find the original photo’s by ‘LeamDavid’ here and here. If you have some photo’s of an interesting dressing room (could be your local one)...

Football referees on national top level will all appear in their new outfit the next weeks. Brands made all some new referee kits for the 2012/2013 season. 2012/2013 Nike referee kits Willy Loos, a sports shop in Groningen, has published some photo’s of the new Nike referee kit. Nike is supplier for the Dutch and French national referees. I’m not sure whether referees dare to wear one colour during the season. Björn Kuipers played it safe during last weekend’s Dutch Supercup with a grey shirt and black short and socks. I’m still a bit surprised by the vertical zipper. You can also follow The Dutch Referee Blog on Facebook by liking the page: The options below are just to share only this article. Continue reading...

What a timing from the referee team from Japan during the warm-up for (I think) the match between Great Britain and Uruguay. Center referee Yuichi Nishimura is taking the lead. Yeah, they’re sexy and they know it 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. A Dutch interviewer in newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’ about big football tournaments: “That’s where the Ronaldo’s of this world are.” Cover photo of Volkrant’s summer appendix with Serdar Gözübüyük. “That means nothing to me. Come on, if they go to the bathroom, they stink too.” The reply of Serdar Gözübüyük, a very talented Dutch referee, who stresses that a certain status doesn’t change the person. He emphasises that even if you become more popular, also as a referee, you need to be yourself. You can the the full interview (in Dutch) in last weekend’s...