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Saturday was in theory the highest level of football I will get to Ref on this season. Div 1 of our local supply league. The home side was new to this level of football where the away side had been in the division for a few years. The first half was straight forward enough. Home side leading 1-0 at the break. I had not a great deal to do other than manage corners, where the same two players decided to stand with the keeper blocking him. I decided on the 3rd one to pull the two players out and have a word. This worked to an extent as the defending player switched for the rest of the half. The second half though was a bit more eventful. After about 5 minutes of the half, two players had gone in for a challenge. As one got up 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. I was convinced the offence was just inside (the penalty area). By Danny Makkelie, who admits his fault by giving a penalty instead of a free kick just outside the penalty area. “We all like to be as anonymous as possible.” Canadian referee Carol Anne Chenard is happy that she was not in the newspapers because of her performances. “I will be proud and thinking how fantastic it is to be here.” Says Björn Kuipers before the European Supercup between Barcelona and Porto last Friday. “We don’t want to see referees mobbed by players, where players run from long distances to crowd...

I was asked elsewhere what my view was on a position being adopted regarding allowing children to wear tracksuit bottoms while playing football. This was my response .. Personally I feel that "child protection" and "health and safety" are often cited not by those who genuinely care about the safety of the child/individual but who have one eye on the possible litigation that may follow if the low frequency/high loss scenario does occur. That is why I support the premise that a child should be exposed to risky situations, but those that can be managed. For example, the law(s of the game) requires me not to allow the wearing of tracksuit bottoms other than by a goalkeeper. If a child wants to wear tracksuit bottoms to play football, I...

Cavani scores a brilliant overhead kick. Only for that darn assistant to rule it out for Offside!

When getting my kit ready for Thursdays game I decided to take some photo's of the ammount of crap we end up carrying around with us. Items not shown include Two sets of flags - Touchline and Refscall buzzer flags Two pairs of boots Wash Bag that also includes Radian B, Deep Heat and some Ice cream I brought years ago but works Plus drinks that I take on the day.

It seems that my retirement from refereeing has gone unnoticed in one corner of the world as I got a phone call tonight asking me to referee a pre-season game for a local side. I retired in December 2009! The Secretary of the club was talking to me only a few weeks ago about how it was to be retired from the green stuff, as he is just about done with playing. His phone call came in near the start of the first Sunday League meeting of the new season. He should have been at the meeting so I politely declined his request and suggested he put in an appearance - he did and it saved him £20! Preparations for the new season have gone reasonably well with the fixtures prepared through to the end of the season. Last night saw me make a...

‘Referees in the media’ will be published each Monday (and only this week on Tuesday) on the Dutch Referee Blog and provides remarkable or interesting quotes and links to articles worth reading. “Their demand is too high especially when the league is still transforming itself and referees still stepping up their game.” By publicist of Uganda’s top league who argues that referees in his country demand to much money for a match. The FA now considers flying in referees from Kenia. “Hopefully I don’t get a stadium ban.” By an old fan of FC Oss who hit referee Edwin van de Graaf with his scooter after his team lost 4-3 against Almere City in Dutch second league. See last seconds of video below for the incident.

Last Thursday saw my season get under way with a cup game between two reserve sides. The first challenge came before we kicked off. In this league these two teams are possibly the furthest apart mileage wise at around 100 miles round trip. The home team didn't have floodlights, so a 6.30 kick off was on the cards. Unfortunately the away side didn't fully get to the ground until 6.40 so we didn't kick off until 6.50. For a league game I could have reduced the half length but for a cup game it must be 90 minutes. However luckily if it was to finish as a draw there was no extra time just straight penalty's! The other minor challenge before the game was the fact we had no penalty spots. Given the fact that this game maybe would need...

I promised you the sums of average cards per match in 2010/2011 season. Here they are. These graph below is based on previously posted stats for yellow, second yellow and red cards on Dutch Referee Blog – all shown on a heat map of Europe. Average number of cards per match in European competitions in 2010/2011.

This season is a bit odd for me. Its the first time since I first started that ive not into a season looking for promotion to the next step. It would be quite easy to put my feet up and just coast through the season. However I made a point of saying to myself, colleague and The FA that this wasn't going to be the case, and that I still wanted to count. So inspired by this excellent post by Tris on setting goals. Here are my very simple goals for the season Easy one and one that can be measured - Referee a County Cup Final. Ive not had one since my first year as a Level 4 (Re)Establish myself back in the County as Referee. My last few years have seen me officiate outside of my Parent County due to my supply league. As a result...

All the way through your career as Referee, people will tell you to get your admin right. Let me give you a great example as to why this. So last night I was due to be on a supply league line. I had accepted the game original. However due to a work commitment that would have made it tight for making the game, i emailed the appointment's officer on Friday coming of the game. I recived a response saying no problem. I also emailed the club informing them. Last night at 9PM i got a missed call alert on my mobile. Signal around my home being awful. It was a missed call from the match referee from 7.15 asking me where I was. He was clearly out for the 2nd half at this stage but I called him back and left a voice mail on his phone...

Having spent last Friday and Saturday at Alton Towers, 8 hours walking around on Friday and 7 on Saturday, I turned out early on Sunday to help set up a Basic Course for New Referees. I was providing admin support rather than tutoring which felt a little strange. I still chipped in occasionally and the day went well with a very responsive group. That's more than I can say for many of my colleagues who frequent the Discussion Board of the Referee's Association. Recently there has been an outbreak of disrespect with some posts stepping way over the mark of decency and unlikely to present a good impression of refereeing to any first time visitors. So I'm avoiding the Board and leaving the posters to fight it out among themselves...

The last card stats: Portugal also leads the second yellow card competition. Players in Portugese Liga ZON Sagres also got the most yellow and straight red cards on average per match. (NB: I’m working on a visualisation of the totals, but that takes some time because I’ve to work. Hope to get it on the blog before the end of the week.) A short explanation for the the infographic below. It shows the countries where most second yellow cards are given based on data from Worldfootball.net and Futebol365.pt. How darker the tint, the more reds due to second yellow are handed out. Portugal scores 0,233333 in the stats, which means that after approximately (1/0.233333=) 4 matches a red card is given due to a second yellow. Number 2: Greece...

Saturday night watching Match of the Day. I sent a simple tweet during the Liverpool vs. Sunderland highlights. All it said was "Correct decision for Richardson yellow". Little did I know it would be retweeted by @jacquioatley. The rest of the night was then spent along with @slimref explaining the following incident and why it was only a yellow card. szólj hozzá: Liverpool v Sunderland, Pen Disclaimer The following explanation is based on the guidelines we are given. Its an interpretation and an explanation of the thought process that the Referee has to go through. Its not Phil Dowds or the FA explanation. The below are taken from the Interpretation of the Laws of the Game from Fifa.Com Referees should consider the...

“They often asked me after the game what I thought of the arbitration, but I never said anything negative to them and definitely not that they may have caused loss or win of a match.” Says François Eelen, who was referee assessor in Belgian top leagues until last week, in an interview with Nieuwsblad. He regrets the way he was set aside just two days before the start of the competition started. “There has always been a misguided desire to keep 22 players on the pitch and, as a result, difficult players often get away with too much and then believe they can repeat their actions without sanction.” says Graham Poll in his weekly referees review on Daily Mail. He admits he used to do it with some ‘irksome’ players too. “Coaches must learn...

Exactly 39 years ago, the first yellow cards were handed out in the Dutch national league. Seven were booked at the start of the 1972/1973 season, but media still struggle to figure out who got the card first. Youngest Fifa referee at that moment, 31-year-old Jan Keizer from Volendam, announced one day before the tournament in De Telegraaf that ‘referees will hand out yellow cards much faster than they did before when referees just gave warnings’. They had to be more strict on ‘laying down an opponent’ and ‘not taking enough distance when you’re in the wall’. Keizer was happy with the new measures. “They are fantastic, because they’re of importance for the real football lovers.” The Dutch talented referee stressed that referee’s...

Crazy match between Unión San Guillermo and Atlético Tostado on fifth level in Argetina. Just watch the video.

Robbie Savage wearing all 72 football league shirts. Seen on Soccerblog

In short, the tweak on Sunday has turned out to be just that ... a tweak. Unfortunately I have picked up a throat infection and cannot train. Oh well, off to Alton Towers on Friday!!!

Players in Portugese Primera División get the most straight red cards per match in Europese national leagues. Each five matches in 2010/2011 season Portoguse referees showed (on average( one straight red card. Belgium, Spain, Romania and The Netherlands complete the top five of countries with hard players. Or are the referees just mild in countries like Norway (1 straight red in 21 matches), Czech Republic (1 in 15) or Ukrain (1 in 14)? In the infographic below, you can see the ‘reddest’ country based on data from Worldfootball.net and Futebol365.pt. How darker the tint, the less matches are played on average before a straight red card is handed out. The value ’0,208333333′ in Portugal means that statistically five (5×0,208333333>1)...