Members Blogs

While having a bit of a catch-up on this weekends football on Footytube. I noticed the highlights from Inter vs Celtic in the Dublin Cup. We do have Red Cards in Pre Season it seems after all.

Having been badgered by my wife for just about all of the close season to get some DIY tasks around the house and garden completed, with the first few weeks of Supply League appointments for match officials out yesterday, I thought I'd better get a move on. So it was back up in the loft to tackle the over active header tank inlet valve. We invested in a new inlet mechanism yesterday and a larger float (to shut the water off sooner). I found I didn't have the correct size wrench (doh! poor workman, etc.) so I swapped out the float and that seemed to do the trick. From there it was straight outside to complete the cleaning out of the gutters for the conservatory. We bought a new hose for this purpose 2 weeks ago after I had removed two...

Having sneezed earlier today I starting getting the sniffles as the afternoon progressed. I was also still suffering from pains in my feet, ankles, shins and calves from repeatedly training. Finally on arriving home I found my 6 year old son had returned from his week at his grandparents in Bedford. Each one of these events would have made me have second thoughts about training tonight, so I decided I would have a night off. The only problem is that I also need to take a night off on Monday as I am attending a meeting on Monday night in Doncaster. I've therefore decided that I might go do some training on Sunday and then again on Tuesday before wrapping my week up on Thursday. I might have to adopt a similar programme the following...

Referee Bill Hamilton talks about his wonderful experience at the Dana Cup, an international youth tournament in Hjørring, Denmark. The Scotsman leads the match between Macedonian and Norwegian pupils.

Patrice Evra was simply blocking a shot during a match between Manchester United and an MLS All Start team. But the AR wasn’t prepared for that … … and dropped down. In return he got a big hug from Evra.

The Fifa u20 World Cup will start tomorrow. Here are some disciplinary stats about last tournaments with some amazing matches with four red cards. The referees for this tournament are published here. Fifa says this tournament is a good springboard for young referees. “Five of them even directed a World Cup final: Arnaldo Coelho (BRA, 1982), Edgardo Codesal Mendez (MEX, 1990), Sandor Puhl (HUN, 1994), Horacio Elizondo (ARG, 2006) and Howard Webb (ENG, 2010)”, according to the Fifa press realease. All stats below are from Fifa’s databases and provide info of previous u20 World Cups. Most red cards in a match 4 Italy – Hungary 2009 4 Netherlands – Honduras 1995 3 Argentina – Netherlands 1983 3 Portugal – Argentina 1991 3 Spain –...

Beans+microwave=Burnt finger. Wednesdays are the days when the field is full of football teams training. One Ladies team, 2 junior teams and 2 male open age teams were on the field tonight. The two male teams appeared distracted by the Ladies team and they were too busy concentrating on trying to play football to notice. The training methods were very different. The males did a warm up run, some shuttles for fitness and then played some small sided football. The Ladies team appeared to go straight into small sided football without any fitness work. The junior teams both set off on a cross country run after some small sided games and skills development exercises. I always hated cross country running but these kids seemed to really...

This kept appearing in my goggle alerts and to be honest every day I see someone moan about a Referee so I paid little attention. However Ive just seen the video on Soccerblog and paid closer attention. Take a look at the video below and the two incidents in question. Incident 1) - DOGSO? Looking at the incident it appears that the defender pulls back the attacker as he is running through on goal. However while there appears to be contact it doesn't seem there is a pull so does the striker make the most of it? The other thing here is this a Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity? Yes he is face to face with the keeper but he doesn't have control of the ball. I find this a tough one and with the angle the Referee has to the left of the...

A red card made Robert Schörgenhofer from Austria a referee. That was about twenty years ago, now he’s on the international refereeing list and going to the u20 World Cup in Colombia. “I was a football player and received a wrong red card”, says the Austrian referee to Dutch Referee Blog and World of Football Refereeing. “The referee had a very bad day and I thought, it can’t be so difficult and I can do it better. That is the reason why I start refereeing.” Robert Schörgenhofer. Photo provided by referee. Schörgenhofer is ready for the youth world cup. On the 12th of July he already got his first match of the 2011/2012 season. “The match in Linz served simultaneously as preparation for the u20 World Cup.” Country: Austria AUT Date...

Over on DutchReferee.com, there is a post relating to an incident from a recent game. It focuses on a penalty that was retaken multiple times. Would you do this? If so how many times before you allow it? Here the link to the post

Watching back the final of the Copa America, I found Alvaro Pereira from Uruguay tackle referee Salvio Fagundes from Brazil. It looks like it’s not on purpose, but always be aware of the players behind you. Take a look:

It's been a sad weekend as a nation lost its innocence and the world lost a unique singing talent. I have friends who have many good friends in Norway because they travel there each year to referee in a youth football tournament. I hope when they arrive this week, that they find all their friends safe and well. Extremism and terrorism have no place in this world and in a place like Norway which has such a small population, it seems likely that the effects of this weekend's tragedy will touch many lives. As for the death of Amy Winehouse, she was undoubtedly a talented artiste and her loss will be felt by her many fans. I reserve my sympathies for her family. No parent should ever have to bury their child. Unfortunately, all too often...

Counter reset ... School holidays always bring a challenge as my 6 year old son needs to be kept company and amused, so we have the summer holidays scoped out with each week carefully planned. Some weeks he would spend odd days with me or his mum and on other days he would spend time with either of his grandmothers. All nicely planned until he found out his cousin was staying at his Nanna's this week so he was desperate to see her because she would have her coveted Nintendo DS with her and he could have a go. With a trip to Rhodes on the horizon attending my daughter's wedding and the school holidays to get through obviously we are not awash with spare cash just now and a Nintendo DS (just like the XBox Kinect I want) will have to...

About an hour ago posted on YouTube: a referee running for his life. Does anyone know which teams this are or when it happened? I’ve never seen it before.

If like me your tight, then you can now download the latest copy of the FIFA Laws of the Game direct from FIFA.com. It saves buying the book (if you can track down a copy to buy). Something that struck me while reading through these at the weekend. The Laws are 56 Pages long, however the Interpretation of the Laws is 81 Pages Long! Shows why there is so much confusion at times!

“Each company’s respective technology will be scrutinised across a broad range of criteria, in both daylight and floodlit conditions” by Fifa’s spokesman in the Guardian about the fact that Fifa is going to test nine systems for goal-line technology. “Fidel and I both saw clearly the goal they took away from us” By Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez, who was watching football with Fidel Castro and saw the referee disallow a goal. Would a red card for denying obvious goalscoring oppurtunity be honest if a goal is scored (from a penalty kick). Give that card only when the goal is not secured. By Uefa’s referee chief Pierluigi Collina, who’s waiting for IFAB’s review of the DOGSO rule. “I enjoy myself everytime I’m able to whistle (a...

What’s in the referee bag you take with you to your matches? Just add some papers on a4 size … … because sometimes the substitution board doesn’t work due to heavy rainfall, like here in the Chinese Super League match between Hangzhou Greentown and Beijing Guoan.

This referee let’s the penalty kick retaken over and over again. Players won’t stop complaining, isn’t he just strictly applying the rules? Teammates of the taker and as well as opponents infringe the Laws of the Game. Mostly by moving into the penalty area (or 9,15m circle) too soon. But also take a look at the goalkeeper during the penalty kick he saved. He moves forward to fast and is way in front of the goalline when the attacker actually kicks the ball. Anyone an idea why the goal from the before last kick is not allowed? Last week, I’ve started a discussion about giving a yellow for players who pull off their shirt at amateur level. Anyone experiences with this situation? What’s your ‘record’ of retaken penalties in a row or do...

Third referee in SummerRefs lives Colombia, the country where the World Cup under 20 will start in a week. In this section refs from all over the world and all with different experiences will tell about their refereeing career and how they prepare for next season during this summer break. Each Saturday a new profile will be posted online, and the second person who answers the five questions (5W’s) is Carlos Salcedo from Colombia. Name: Carlos Salcedo Age: 20 Hometown: Bogotá Started refereeing: at age of 16 Carlos Salcedo Who do you think you are (as referee)? “Carlos Salcedo is a referee who always is learning of the others. That’s why he likes to see other referees act. He is a relaxed referee, but rigorous, as all the South...

It's raining, men ... On Wednesday Neil was working and Paul text me to say that he wasn't sure he wanted to train because of the rain. My response was that he would have to referee in the rain, as I used to do, so he really should train. That was before I heard the rain bouncing off the conservatory roof and realised it seemed to be getting dark earlier than usual. I text him back to agree and we said we'd pick things up on Friday (today). Within half an hour Paul pointed out that the rain had stopped but by that time I had eaten a rather large salad and pasta dish from the local supermarket, so I passed up the opportunity. So today I got a text this afternoon from Paul telling me that he had a lot to do before going on holiday...