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When I arrived this morning at the backword game I had been given on Friday, I saw the nets weren't up and the home team, who are usually changed and warming up sometimes as early as 45 minutes before kick off, were standing about in the car park, still in their "day" clothes. When their manager gave me a "cutting the grass" signal, I didn't think he was suggesting anything about my gardening prowess and it was with dismay that I found out my season was finishing, as it had started back in January at the same ground, with a postponement. I decide not to insist they collected up all their subs and paid me in 10p pieces, but reported the facts to the League Secretary when I got home. Well the truth is that I got halfway through the...

For a bit of fun during the Euro’s I have set-up a fantasy competition on the UEFA site. If you want to enter its free. To join the league the pin is 68443-16303 Filed under: Uncategorized Continue reading...

I posted last night about my season finishing with a late pickup of a game on Tuesday after the appointed referee didn't turn up and the Ref Appts Sec was on holiday in Ibiza. He's back home now and one of the referees for the 3 remaining games in the local Sunday League has been taking advantage of the good weather to get some golf in. That wasn't a problem until he either stood on a ball or was hit by one which left him with a bruised foot/ankle meaning he can't do his game on Sunday, so with nothing riding on the game, I'm looking after my 2nd Premier Division in 5 days (and 2 1/2 years if I'm honest). There are no more games left after Sunday and football shuts down on June 1st (apart from the administrators and international...

During FIFA’s medical conference in Budapest the topic of drug testing Referees for performance enhancers was discussed. I’ll be honest im surprised the FIFA officials aren’t subject to this already. Given the pressure on the officials and the physical demand I wouldn’t be surprised if one failed such a test. FIFA chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak told delegates on the second day of the FIFA medical conference in Budapest. ‘We have started to discuss this and this is something for the future which will be discussed to include possibly an anti-doping programme for referees. ‘We do not have an indication that this is a problem but this is something we have to look at. Related Articles FIFA prepares to select anti-corruption officials...

This time last week I fulfilled my appointment as 4th official for the local Sunday League Cup Final. It was a busy night as I brought the referee's attention to a caution, missed getting his attention to dismiss a player, saw a game which involved 12 penalties (11 scored), no goals from open play and the best celebration I have ever seen. The game included another dismissal which the referee dealt with and as often happens the team reduced to ten men held out to win the trophy. Sunday saw me watching the team defeated last Thursday take out their frustration in another cup final and win that one comfortably 8-2. On Tuesday, the 'phone rang a little after half six and the captain of one of our Premier Division teams told me their...

Hawkeye will take a big step in its testing when it will be used during the England vs Belgium friendly at Wembley on June 2nd. However the Referee will not have acess to the system and will not know the outcome of any responses. This will be used as a real test of the sytem by the scientists behind it. This is a continuation of the Hawkeye testing which was used at the Hampshire senior cup final at St Marys recently. Related articles ENGLISH FOOTBALL: Referees and The FA (rinolee.wordpress.com) Years Too Late (the-beautiful-game.org) Goal Line Technology: Do We Need It? (full-timewhistle.com) Goal-line technology first in UK (bbc.co.uk) Goal Line Technology Finally Set To Be Agreed By FIFA (caughtoffside.com) Carter coy on...

Reblogged from Freebody, Free Speech: Originally featured on FootballFanCast.com in 2011 The talk of referees in football has never been a positive one, especially this season with Sir Alex Ferguson facing a 5-match ban for comments he made about match officials. But the men in black (or whatever colour they’re wearing these days) have a history in the game, without them football games would not be able to work and the rules they are using are in place to make the game better. Read more… 418 more words Great Piece on Ken Aston - Football Legend. Continue reading...

English football (soccer) referee Howard Webb (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This week the England squad was named for the upcoming European Championships. However there not the only english men going to Poland and Ukraine with a second team being named…..the match officials. This championship being the first with Extra Assistant Referees we have 6 english match officials going to the finals. Howard Webb, Michael Mullarkey &Peter Kirkup will be Referee & Assistants respectively, with Stephen Child as backup Assistant incase one becomes injured. The extra assistant referees are Martin Atkinson & Mark Clattenburg. Clattenburg is already in for a busy summer with his appointment to the olympics. Uefa have also appointed four officials...

‘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. “If you had bad luck, the players first needed to remove **** from the field, because the cows were walking there the day before.” Herman Efftink from Dutch town Delden tells about the first years of is long career. He has been honoured by the Dutch FA for being a match official for 50 (!) years. Newspaper Tubantia didn’t mention if he will continue his career after more than 3.500 matches half a century. Als je pech had moesten de spelers eerst de stront van het veld halen omdat de koeien er de dag ervoor nog liepen.” “We have huge problems by finding new...

There is a standing joke among many football supporters that games at the home of Manchester United often seem to go on until the home team scores the goal that wins the game or rescues the draw. This perceived phenomenon even has a nickname - Fergie Time. Today Fergie Time at The Stadium of Light ran to 3 minutes while at the Etihad Stadium, Fergie Time (should that be Mancini time?) ran to 5 minutes. In the 4th minute of those 5, the destination of Barclays Premier League title changed from one side of Manchester to the other, as Manchester City scored the winning goal that preserved their lead (on goal difference) at the top of the division and ensured they ended their 44 year wait for title glory. The joke of Fergie Time aside...

Wrong decisions by referees in Dutch Eredivisie had direct influence on the outcome (win, loss, draw) in 41 out of 174 matches last season. That’s the conclusion of freelance journalists Thijs Zonneveld and Fokko Ebbens, who watched all matches of the top six teams, in newspaper NRC Handelsblad. The journalists focused on goals, (not) given penalty kicks and red cards. Mistakes by the referees in Dutch top would not lead to a different champion. Ajax Amsterdam would have even scored one more point than the team already did. Number two Feyenoord would not change position, but would have been much closer the the champions. That’s because the club from Rotterdam have been denied seven clear penalty kicks, says the journalist’s analysis...

‘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 went past an Ild player and then tripped over my own feet. It was unbelievably clumsy of me and when the referee pointed to the spot I felt I had to speak out.” Talat Abunima spoke with local newspaper Sandnesposten after he was send of in Norwegian fifth league after being send of for protesting against a penalty kick he conceived. Referee Nedzad Munjic also gave a reaction to the same newspaper. He still disagreed with the player: “It was a clear penalty. The player got it all wrong – I don’t think the players know the rules properly. And when I’ve blown...

One of the big issues in football is Racism, and the fact that governing body’s don’t take an appropriate view to punishment. Small fines and short bans really don’t get the point across. During the Trabzonspor’s and Fenerbahce match recently, Emre made a racist comment to Didier Zakora. In this case the Turkish FA banned him for 3 games (is that enough?) In the return game the Trabzonspor players decide to make their feelings known! Related articles Didier Zokora v Emre: Let’s kick racism in the balls (offthepost.info) Emre banned for insulting Zokora (bbc.co.uk) Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Didier Zokora, Emre Belözoğlu, Fenerbahçe S.K., Fenerbahce, Trabzonspor, Turkey, UEFA Continue reading...

The recent weather has played havoc with fixtures and at this time of the year this means the honour appointments, which many of us have worked hard to earn, have been displaced within the calendar. So the begging, stealing and borrowing done to be able to take the game on, whether this is at home or at work (to ensure you can stay on the game) starts all over again. Personally I have benefited from a postponement meaning I have picked up a 4th Official on the Sunday League Cup Final. The referee on the Trophy Final was also due to be on a County Final, so when this was postponed and the new date coincided with our Trophy Final, he had to give backword on our game. This meant the Senior Assistant stepped up to Referee and the 4th...

This is from the DC United vs Toronto match in MLS. It’s a poor challenge by Bill Hamid and a decision the Referee gets right. Theres some interesting comments on the youtube clip talking about last man, which really has no relevance to this at all! Related articles MLS: Five things we learned in week eight | Graham Parker (guardian.co.uk) DC United Vs. Houston Dynamo, 2012 MLS: Houston Defense Goes Missing In 3-2 DC Win (sbnation.com) Toronto FC loses again, ties MLS worst start (cbc.ca) DC United vs. New York Red Bulls: 6 Things We Learned from MLS Showdown (bleacherreport.com) Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Bill Hamid, DC United, FC Dallas, Football, Major League Soccer, Real Salt Lake, referee, Toronto Continue...

‘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. “But as long as managers allow their players to con referees, they should not exhibit the incredible gaul it takes to call them out in public. It’s a hard enough job as it is.” In an analysis by The Score called ‘Refereeing, the impossible job’. ‘Goal-line technology is intended as an aid. The referee’s decision will always be final.’ Alex Horne, General Secretary of The FA in the latest Fifa World Magazine (pdf). Fifa Magazine April issue ‘It was another fantastic event from a refereeing point of view. Once again, we had a very high pass rate for the various...

200 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The draw has today taken place for the football competition that forms part of the 2012 london olympics. I was keen to find out who I would be seeing at the city of Coventry stadium….Mexico vs Gabon get you excited! With all the talk of the Great Britain side and who it will (or wont more likely) contain. Its good to see that Great Britain is being represetneted by Mark Clattenberg, Simon Beck and Stephen Child. I was impressed with Ravshan Irmatov at the 2010 world cup and he seems to be well respected within FIFA, so maybe a good bet for the final. Infact I expect he may refere the England Great Britain vs Uruguay match. List of Mens Officials and Women s Officials. Related articles London 2012...

Reblogged from TechCrunch: Traditional whiteboards are great for nearly everything but portability. Scribbling down physics problems? Sure. Impromptu game of tic-tac-toe? Of course. Folding up and putting it in your pocket? Not really possible with a normal whiteboard. But the Noteboard isn’t a normal whiteboard. It’s a dual-side, foldable whiteboard that might just change the world (but probably not). When unfolded the Noteboard is about the size of 27 notecards but it collapses into a pocket-friendly package. Read more… 98 more words Could be a useful bit of kit for new Ref courses! Continue reading...

One of the attributes of a good referee, according to spectators and players is "to let the game flow" a statement which ignores the referee's responsibility to enforce the laws but also gives the referee scope to employ the advantage clause. There is rarely an opportunity for the referee to take pleasure from his decision making in a game, after all there's no joy in awarding a corner kick or indicating the direction of a throw-in or despite what some coaches think, taking disciplinary action. There is however a really satisfying feeling from seeing an offence, identifying that it has occurred, but recognising that there is an opportunity for the team offended against to continue their attack and if things go really well, scoring a...

Two referees got injured last week during a football match. Turkish referee Bülent Yildirim, Fifa referee since 2007, collided with Didier Zokora last weekend in the Turkish top league. He looks a little dizzy: And due to a sudden movement Italian referee Daniele Doveri has dislocated his shoulder. The match between Napels and Novara was not even one minute under way. Fourth official Gennaro Palazzino would have met his debut in Serie A, but after 18 minutes Doveri could continue the match, which ended in a 2-0 victory for the home team. Continue reading...