Members Blogs

The latest episode of the Referees World podcast is out. Well worth a listen as always. THe point on the podcast around watches beeping any players knowing when the game is over. This is why I purchased this Casio watch as it has a vibrate feature on it. Well worth it. Related articles Top 5 Podcast Apps for Android (mashable.com) Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Football, Podcast, Podcasts, Referees Continue reading...

During a recent match between Guarany and Sergipe in the Campeonato Sergipano. The Guarany keeper had gone forward in an effort to get a late equaliser. However was caught on the counter attack, step forward the ball boy. Related articles Another setback for gay rights as Colin Clark (Houston Dynamo) calls a ballboy a “****ing faggot!” on live TV (101greatgoals.com) Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Ballboy, Campeonato Sergipano Continue reading...

Just spotted this on Footytubes Facebook page, and thought it was a cracking little fact for this years European Championship Euro 2012 68 days to go. 68 = 1968 was the first and only time a match in the tournament was decided by a coin toss with Italy beating the Soviet Union in the SF and then going on to win the tournament outright. Related articles Euro 2012 Hymn: the last symbol of the championship held in secret (uapl2012tourguide.com) Poznan: The roof for Euro fan (uapl2012tourguide.com) Filed under: Euro2012 Tagged: Euro2012, UEFA, UEFA Euro 2012, UEFA European Football Championship Continue reading...

I spotted this and tweeted it a couple of weeks ago, but the blog was moving at the time. When I first started Refereeing I brought a variety of books from the RA. One of these was by Abraham Klein an Israeli Referee who officiated at the 1970,78 & 82 world cups. It was a really good book and unfortunately I can’t locate my copy or find it online to buy. I was surprised to see that Rob Smyth had written this amazing feature on him on the guardian. Its well worth a read but its a long piece so take the time to print it out and really enjoy it. Related articles “Haptic Communication,” Abraham Klein And Donald Duck’s Role In Income Tax. (cadmefoghlamthainniu.wordpress.com) Assistant Referee Instructions (the-referee.com) Filed...

Weve seen these many times before, however its allways impressive when someone actually pulls one of these off. Filed under: Uncategorized Continue reading...

I turned out this morning to assess a promotion candidate recently accepted on to the County accelerated programme, meaning he is being given the opportunity to progress from Level 7 to Level 5 in one marking season. He has some exacting criteria to fulfil but if he completes them all, then he may well be eligible to be considered for the County Fitness Test and possibly nomination for Level 4. That however is a long way from today when he lost his coin during his warm up. That set me thinking, when we take to the field, why do we need so many of everything? When tutoring new referees I run through the checklist of equipment every referee needs when stepping out on to the field to referee a game. S/he needs ... Two whistles - in...

Some readers may think, well it's just a Sunday League game, but for the players who have worked all week, looking forward to their game at the weekend, it does matter. I have been guilty in the past for refereeing when not at my best. I'm not talking about refereeing with an injury or a below peak (for my age) fitness, I'm talking about when I'm not mentally focused. The mental side of the game often needs as much attention as the physical. Every game deserves you at your best, mentally and physically, but in truth unless you are at the very top of the game AND very lucky, you will always be carrying a niggle into a game. Mentally, it might be that you haven't done your homework, it might be the thought of last week's game when you...

Another case for goal line technology Filed under: Football, Laws of the Game, Premier League, soccer Continue reading...

Premier League referee Peter Walton will be moving to the US next month to take up a position working with the MLS. The MLS Officials do get a lot of grief (sometimes valid) however there has been a drive in the US to try and rule out some of the rough play during games. I have though had the impression that the MLS are quite good at being public about their efforts to work with the officials. For a few years there used to be a weekly podcast where they would talk about key incidents during the week and were not afraid to be critical of officials. Filed under: Uncategorized Continue reading...

Just came across this video on 101 Great Goals. It compares the Maradona goal for Argentina in 86 against England against a Messi goal against Gettafe. Filed under: Uncategorized Continue reading...

This weekends football passed me by due to the little one being ill. So ive just been catching up and completely forgot that it was the IFAB meeting. FIFA have recommend that Hawk Eye and GoalRef continue the test phase on goal line technology. Hawk Eye is a well known system that uses cameras. Where as GoalRef uses a magnetic system and a special ball. Given there has been two incidents recently in Spain & Italy it shows there is a need to look at this in more depth. My only concern is it will split the game further between the have and have nots The other changes that were approved. Clarification around position of advertising boarding Players sock tape has to be the same colour as the sock Clarification around what should...

During an amateur game in Belgium the Referee judged that one of the players during this aerial dived. Im not sure how he worked that out and I do wonder if there was something else thats not reported in the clip. Anyway, the player who was cautioned and then dismissed went to Hospital and had 3 displaced vertebrae! Seen via offthepost.info Filed under: Uncategorized Continue reading...

Assessing today and a few shots Filed under: Uncategorized Continue reading...

This week has been a odd week. I’ve spent the best part of it manually configuring our new android smartphones for work. Fun when it’s yours not when it’s someone else’s. So I’ll be glad to get out tomorrow when I’ll be assessing. It’s my first one of the new marking season and using the new forms for this level. Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: assessments, Football, referee, soccer Continue reading...

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: assessments, Football, referee, soccer Continue reading...

So as mentioned last week the blog was going to move to a new service provider. That has now happened and so you may need to update your RSS Feed etc. Filed under: Uncategorized Continue reading...

If your lucky you may have a cup semi or final or big league game coming up. You may also have the luxury of having qualified assistant referees working with you. The catch to this if your not used to it, you may not make the most of this opportunity. Over on Referee-Inactive there is a great post on how to handle this situation and get the most from it. Link to Post Filed under: Referee, Uncategorized Tagged: Assistant referee (association football), referee 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. Every boy dreams of walking onto the hallowed turf of Hampden and I have now had the great privilege and honour of fulfilling this dream. Scottish Assistant Referee Charlie Smith blogs about his experiences as cup final AR. He blogs about the week before the final from the moment he heard hewould be there. “That’s absolutely ludicrous, trying to protect the poor performances of the officials they supply us. It’s a joke.” Mark Hughes laughs at the British FA because it released a statement that it is in favour of the use of technology when the match QPR –...

Next week the blog will be moving to a new provider. If you to www.the-referee.com then everything will work as normal. However you will need to update your RSS Feed. I suggest bookmark www.the-referee.com and all being well between on Wednesday next week the blog will have moved. I am currently tidying up the posts after the move and tidying up the layout. There wont be anything else posted on this site now. Continue reading...

Dutch education institute LOI has made several tv commercials about people getting smarter. Their newest main character: the referee team. A short explanation for the non-Dutch readers of the blog (they could just click the video below). An example of a previous commercial: LOI has published tv ads with Dutch people on vacation in Italy, where employees of a restaurant are making fun of them. The father strikes back in fluent Italian that the ‘pasta clowns’ should stop and bring them some food. The idea is that LOI makes the Dutch smarter due to their courses. The referee commercial is also in Dutch, but hope this short explanation helps. The refereeing trio is walking off the pitch for half-time, discussing what players and coaches...