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How to embaras an Assistant Referee. Ive had this done to me, many years ago!

Referees, always make sure have the number of the FA office in your cellphone, just in case you forgot the latest changes in the football rules. The Dutch women’s match between Odysseus’91 and Wartburgia on second amateur level was stopped for at least fifteen minutes, because referee Nielen was not sure he made the right decision. He awarded a penalty kick for the away team. The taker shot the ball on the post and after that she kicked the ball into the net. Nielen’s decision: no goal, because a player can’t touch the ball twice after a free kick or penalty kick. But the Wartburgia assistant referee (Dutch system only has refereeing trio’s from the FA at highest levels) said the rules had been changed, so the goal should count. Nielen...

Referee decisions must be more realistic in the new version of the Fifa soccer game, says Santiago Jaramillo, Fifa Game Play Producer at Electronic Arts. What special things has EA done to the referees in FIFA 12? Jaramillo: “We continue to work on the referee decisions and improve the intelligence of foul calls, carding logic, etc. With the introduction of the Player Impact Engine, we had to re-write a lot of our referee code to adapt to the new technology. So, while there are no new features for the Ref this year, we have done a lot of work on it.” Referee in Fifa 12 waiting for free kick to be taken in match between Real Madrid and Barcelona How important is the referee is in the game? Jaramillo: “Just like in real life, you...

Again looking for a cliip and I find this Drop Ball Fail!

I found the George Best clip in the previous post while looking for this clip!

Just been looking for a video clip on youtube of a player scoring from the half way line. A suggested clip was this goal by George Best, one ive not seen before! On a George Best note, this is an amazing tribute video/song that really strikes a note.

‘Referees in the media’ will be published each Monday on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. “We’re seeing referees’ development schools and player development schools, some of which are clearly a front for criminals. They are investing long-term in the compromise of these players.” Says Fifa security chief Chris Eaton in an interview with Reuters. “That’s just part of the goalkeeper’s risk, which is part of the business.” Werder Bremen goalie Tim Wiese accepts his red card by referee Jochen Drees for tripping an attacker. Eurosport Germany discusses five different reactions to five red cards. “This is my contribution to all who are concerned about the world of...

The Dutch commentator was wondering why play was still going on, but here’s a perfect example of an assistant referee who touches the ball when it’s in play. He’s no so-called outside agent, so the game should go on. See video of situation in EC qualifier between Finland and The Netherlands below. Such thing happened a few weeks ago in a match in one of the British lower leagues, but I can’t find it back. The referee was on the sideline and ball bounced via him to the defending team. They started a couter-attack and scored. Ever experienced that?

On Saturday I gave my quickest ever free kick, just seconds after kick off! That included stopping the watch to have a crafty look as well! I had a bad feeling that after giving a couple more free kicks in the early stages that it was going to be one of those games. However after a few minutes the game settled down. The game flowed on the whole quite well and I was happy with my positioning, as i seemed to be in the right place most of the time. I only had the one caution to issue during the game, which was possibly a bit harsh in ht context of the full 90 minutes. However at that moment with the home side pulling back to 1-1 I felt it was required for match control. It was for a simple trip however I felt that while I could have...

‘Referees in the media’ will be published each Monday on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. “Our coaches impressed on us not to rant and rave at his decisions, because it would do us nor him any good.” Rugby player Tom Voyce about the debut of 23-year-old referee Luke Pearce in Aviva Premiership and the advice of his coach Bryan Redpath. His team won with 29-8 by the way. “Our referees have the physical fitness and are apt at the application of the laws of the game but they need to officiate more high-intensity matches in order to improve.” Indian League Referees Committee Chairman Komaleeswaran Sankar hopes that an Indian referee will officiate in the next World...

During last nights non league show there was a discussion about an incident that took place this weekend. The incident being discussed was that of a player leaving the pitch to use the toilet and re entering the field of play. the referee then cautioned him. The ref should count himself lucky at least he went to the loo. Last April I refereed a game in a step 6 league. During a lengthy stoppage two players behind my back relived themselves. I didn't see this but mr assesor did. He observed one leave the pitch, urinate the re enter. The other apparently didn't leave the pitch and urinated on the pitch. Mr assesor put a call in to the FA during the game and thru advised they would expect the following Player leaving the pitch and...

‘Referees in the media’ will be published each Monday on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. “Tell them and train them to understand that modern day refereeing involves a host of extremely technical skills. It demands a certain level of academic flair, high physical fitness, strong mental and psychological personalities and also excellent communication skills.” An advice to all Asian fitness instructors by Toshio Utsumi, Fifa fitness instructor. “If he has seen it again, all he has to say is, ‘I’m sorry’.” Says former Dutch international top referee Mario van der Ende about Kevin Blom’s performance and last minute penalty kick call against Scotland after a dive. “When...

With the thought of the sea gently lapping against my toes as I polish off another ice lolly, I agreed to Paul's hint that we should train tonight. It was supposed to be yesterday morning but holiday shopping took preference. Good job really as I was still a pair of decks shoes, some spending money and sun cream short of packing. Packing started last night after I sat ironing t-shirts and shirts. It was only after 2 hours that I decided to count how many I'd done and found I had enough t-shirts to stay 3 weeks, so some went back in the cupboard. I wish I could have hidden with them tonight as Paul and I decided to replicate our session from Friday but with a little bit of extra warm up work. We did our 6 laps of our field under...

Back in May, I was Course Leader on Basic Course for New Referees and the local ITV news programme (Calendar) wanted to film the course for part of a short series of specials on refereeing in grassroots football. I was interviewed for part of the programme and the interview was broadcast on Thursday. The clip can be seen here. Thanks to Umar for finding the clip. On Friday I was advised that my application for the role of Moderator on the Referee's Association Discussion Board (Forum) had been accepted, so that's something new to look after. Also on Friday I was notified of a late addition to our lowest division in the local Sunday League. As Fixture Secretary, I had to revise the division's fixtures for the season. This came on the...

Easing in gently ... After stopping training 4 weeks ago because an injury, then being laid up because of a cold/cough and a number of family commitments, I decided to get back out there on Friday. It was time to see just how much my fitness had deteriorated in that time. The answer was LOADS! Neil was also back with us and Paul had a mild strain of his soleus tendon (I know how that hurts) so we decided to jog a lap of our field which is about 670m. We jogged one lap, then took a minute or so rest and repeated the lap. We actually did 6 laps in total and then had a jog/walk to cool down before doing a few calf stretches. Calories 770, average heart rate 86%, maximum intensity 19%, had intensity 43%

Tuesday morning I woke with a sore and swollen right knee. No idea why or how. Unfortunately after a couple of hours it wasn't going to ease and I had to come of a game I was due to ref that night. By Thursday it hadn't eased and so of to the phsio. No sign of a sprain but a muscle that runs along my thigh between my hip and knee was tight. She manipulated it and stretched it and it eased. She gave me a series of stretches to do to ease it off. However she suggested it wouldn't be strong enough come Saturday. So another game lost. It's feeling better and I've another appointment this Thursday. So should be back in action next weekend.

My start to the season has been stop-start with various family commitments meaning that I haven't been available on as many Saturdays as I would have liked. They also prevented me from attending Day 2 of a new referee's course back in the middle of August. Professional footballers have suffered from this stop-start nature to their season for a number of years with the introduction of an international window in early September to allow for the playing of "friendlies" and qualifying games for international competitions such as the FIFA World Cup. It seems that the various federations around the world have recognised that no one wants to have an expensive Argentinian international in their team, if he's going to be unavailable for 6 games...

Yeah, the first match in The Hague is scheduled for next Saturday. For eight years I’ve combined refereeing at a club with playing myself, but now I’ll just focus on refereeing. KNVB, the Dutch FA, has scheduled two matches for me. The first one will be a youth match in Katwijk. I’m really looking forward to it. You can follow remarkable things of this fresh career on this blog, but this will not replace the interviews as I’ve posted before. Waiting for the blog: interview with top referee in Trinidad and Tobago, Dutch referee coach in Africa and few more. Suggestions for interviews are always welcome. Oh, here’s the appointment. First appointment of me in The Hague area

I’ve been looking for referee books and found Bewegend, Merk & More about experiences of German retired match official Markus Merk. It has the best bookmark ever (at least for a referee book): a yellow card I still have to read it, but just wanted to show you. Recently I also found out the Royal Library in The Hague (where I live) had pretty much refereeing books in different languages. I’m very interested in them, so please tell me about good referee books you’ve read or heard about. Bewegend, Merk & More about Markus Merk