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It felt like a good time to change again, so I'm now found under referee-inactive.blogspot.com ... seems very appropriate

Did someone mention drought? Since it was announced that much of eastern England was facing drought like conditions it's hardly stopped raining. So tonight it was a case of beat the rain. We started with our usual 5 minute run followed by shuttles for the warm up. Our shuttles involve jogging from the goal line to the edge of the penalty area and back (distance 33m in total), then on the way out to the edge we do a series of exercises ... side to side left foot leading, side to side right foot leading, high knees, bum kicks, two steps to the left then two steps to the right, finishing up with the hamstring walk. Each time the exercises are done on the way out to the edge of the penalty area and then we jog back to the start point on...

Isn't he on the telly? After a long afternoon cooking, eating and drinking to celebrate Father's Day I wasn't feeling very chipper today at work and even went as far as breaking my new rule ... I drank coffee on a training day. The snack machine also pinched my cash as I tried to buy a Twix (other chocolate bars are available) but I ignored the omen and went for a Double Decker instead ... and regretted it later when I felt queasy during training. I arrived right on time to find Mr H (Football League ref who makes occasional appearances on the Football League Show) and Ricky had joined Steve and they were doing a high intensity session. James P had also turned up very early and was part way through his exercise. This left Paul, Neil...

I should be in a muddy field ... All the people who turned up on Monday disappeared, apart from Paul and he'd been to the physio for a back problem and arrived with strict instructions not to do any exercise. Meanwhile I was regretting my decision to allow my Glastonbury ticket to lapse (that was until I saw the weather there) and needed a decent run out. Life was made more difficult with a local football team in the top half of the field, a ladies football team training in the bottom quadrant and a youth team occupying the top field and much of the rugby field alongside the field we usually use. So in a tight space it was time to run in straight lines and I decided to repeat the exercise from Training 4.3. Now I have been feeling...

TGIF ... Long week, few problems with staffing at work and no trip to Glastonbury. It was however the end of week 4 of my training to get fit (for fit read thin) for my daughter's wedding. Tonight's the night we book the holiday wrapped around the wedding, so it's a good end to the week. Tonight's training was a gentle jog for around 4K over 39 minutes, so nothing too strenuous. Calories 538, average heart rate 76%.

It's warm so let's run faster ... With the country in the grip of a mini heatwave I had visions of us collapsing if we tried to run for as long as we have done recently. I decided we would try out a session that I wanted to do last Wednesday and with it being running for shorter bursts it seemed to match up well with the heat. We started our usual warm up routine and completed our shuttles in good time. Paul had to go to a meeting after training and with Steve turning up we needed to get a move on, so we all got a decent work out. So we ran at a decent pace (3/4 pace?) diagonally from one corner of the field to another before walking along the goal line to the corner, running diagonally to the opposite corner before walking along the...

Could try harder ... Not really something that could have been said about my efforts last night on the field as I really put in a hard shift. It seems unfortunately that it was a little too much for my frail (ha ha) 113Kg frame and I've strained my Achilles. It means it's painful to walk and it seems likely that tomorrow's training will have to consist of me watching other people train. It has improved as the day has progressed so may loosen up enough for me to be able to do some light jogging but it seems that high impact work is out for a few days.

After straining my Achilles last Monday I took Wednesday and Friday's sessions off to give it time to recover. I had another reason for that as I was working on the first of the 2011-12 season's Basic Courses for New Referees over Saturday and Sunday. 18 candidates turned up, most under the age of 16 and that brought some challenges but we overcame them. The outdoor sessions worked well, even though we had reduced the number of tutors from 4 to 3. Indoors, matters were even more straight forward. The only problem was the heat. It was the hottest and sunniest day of the year. I've suffered from sunstroke and heatstroke before but combining symptoms with a bad reaction to what I ate on Saturday evening (spicy platter from ASDA...

Somehow the Referee missed this handball in the Women's world cup. This clip is from the Australia vs Guinea match. Sometimes things are to blatant! Continue reading...

So today is July 1st, only 37 Days until my supply league season kicks off. Well not quite true as I have actually closed that day as we have family plans that weekend! How is everyone's summer been going. If your lucky you've been able to relax. If your unlucky you've been training for your fitness test! Over the last few years I have trained for this mainly on an athletics track, after all that where the test is. However this year logistics have meant that it just not been possible. As a result I have been having a confidence crisis going into the test. Its not helped by the fact that I only had one game between January and the end of the season and had done little to none training. So I have been building my fitness back up...

I made a few changes to the blog a few weeks ago and seems I managed to break it. The plus side is that it still got quite a good number of hits despite it almost dispersing into itself. They seem to be fixed but I'd be interested to see how you access it. This will help me confirm all the ways are fixed. How did you get to the blogMarket Research Continue reading...

It seems that when I was doing some tweaking it changed the RSS Feed. I have fixed the Google Reader bundle but if you use anything else you will need to re-subscribe. You can also follow the blog through RefChat where the RSS Feed is now importing onto there as well. That wont be affected by this fix. Continue reading...

Following on from yesterdays post about Neymar. It was the second leg of the Copa Libertadores Final between Neymar's Santos and Penarol. At the final whistle it all kicked off. I am so glad that we dont get these problems in England! Just keeping on the whole Neymar theme, Offthepost (where I saw this video) also have a nice photo of Neymar sticking the boot in on an opponent in the resulting fracas. I suspect if he comes to the Premiership its going to be eventful! Continue reading...

You may have heard about the tragic plane crash in Russia earlier this week where many people lost their life. On the plane was Vladimir Pettai a FIFA Referee and he also lost his life. The 38-year-old Vladimir Pettai had been a top-flight Russian referee since 2003 and in 2010 earned the status of a FIFA match official, one of the highest honours in his profession. Pettai had refereed a match between Premier League sides Dinamo and Rubin Kazan over the weekend and was flying from Moscow's Domodedovo airport to the city near where he was born. He was scheduled to referee another match Sunday between the country's most titled team Spartak Moscow and Rostov. Sad News. Seen via Goal.com Continue reading...

During a match in China a supporter ran on the field of play to attack the Referee. Clearly no laughing matter. However what is funny is he may be the worst pitch invader ever! Continue reading...

One of the players this summer that has been linked with various club is Neymar. While he has undoubtedly skill and is a future star. He has a tendency to go down very easily under a challenge. If you listen to the World Football Phone In on the BBC, Tim Vickery has talked about this in past and how he will have to adapt in Europe. Tim Vickery has written an excellent piece talking about Neymars and a mindset of players in Brazil looking for a free kick rather than the ball. He talks about a recent game between Brazil & Holland where Neymar was booked for diving, video is below which shows 5 separate dives from that game. If Neymar does end up at Chelsea this summer, he is going to have to adapt quickly otherwise he wont be able...

I think i put this out on twitter the other day, however not 100% sure. I was looking around youtube the other day for a referee video and came across this. Its from a Rushden & Diamonds vs Stevenage game and looking at the kits I would say early 2000's but could be wrong. How the hell was this not a red card! What amazed me as well was there was no reaction from the players. Continue reading...

Check this video out, its a bit of a different approach to taking a free kick. Technically there is nothing wrong with it. However you could argue its a distraction tactic and maybe if you were that way inclined make them retake it. What's your thoughts on it? Add them to the comments below. Seen via Soccerblog Continue reading...

Referee's in Washington are suing there employers after they were penalised when they used pink whistles. The Referee's decided to use the pink whistles in support of a breast cancer charity. They were penalised as this didn't match their uniform! They are now suing the league as this breaches their first ammendment rights. Link to story on DailyMail site. Continue reading...

After this Saturday when England no doubt struggle to draw against Switzerland, there really is a lack of football this summer. Well not really. As during June we have the Uefa U21 Championship in Denmark. Plus in July the Copa America. Just seen this video via Soccerblog that has been put together to help promote it. Continue reading...