Members Blogs

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...

Uefa have confirmed the officials for Saturdays Champion League Final between Barcelona and Manchester United. The match will be Officiated by a Hungarian set of officials. The Referee is Viktor Kassai who made his international debut in 2001. He has officiated more than 60 UEFA matches in his refereeing career, including, among others, the round of 16 first leg between FC Internazionale Milano and FC Bayern Munich, as well as the group-stage match between Valencia CF and Manchester United FC. He will be assisted by Gabor Eros and György Ring. The 4th official will be Istvan Vad and the two additional assistant referees are Mihaly Fabian and Tamas Bognar. A reserve assistant referee – Robert Kispal – completes the line-up of the...

In an earlier version of this blog I used to upload any Referee related video to youtube and link back to that. This stopped due to my DVD Recorder packing up. I had forgotten all about the videos until for some reason recently they have been getting a lot of comments and I keep getting emails for them! As they had got a bit lost, I have added them to a playlist and stuck them on the right of the blog. Continue reading...

I have added a new feature to the blog to make it easy to comment. I find that while posts get decent hits, that the comments left are non existent. One reason maybe that it was a bit of a pain to use the system. I have though added Disqus comments. Basicaly they allow you to comment using your social network type accounts as well as just using the standard comment system. So if this has worked if you click on comments, you should see a new box below. Continue reading...

I think were all having a bit of withdrawal at the moment. So a good way of spending the summer months is hitting some of the Forums. There are four main Referee forums. FootballReferee.org This is the Forum of the Referee's Association RefereeForum.net This was ran via Official Sports. Its been going a while and is a good forum. With members from all over the place. Rate The Ref Started off as a site for people to pass comments on Referee's. However is good for checking things such as appointments and sometimes a bit of gossip. RefChat. A new forum and one that already is developing into a great forum. Also you can view the site via the ForumRunner IOS app, so its easy to dip in. Continue reading...

I heard about this the other day but have only just seen the video. Last week Uruguay played Holland in a end of season "friendly". 30 minutes in Lugano "challenged" Van Persie. Amazingly this didn't result in a card. Continue reading...

I was watching some of the highlights of the Panama vs Guadalupe match from the Gold Cup. Check out this sending off from the first half. While its not a clear stamp, I belive the player could have avoided standing on him and so have no issue with the Red card. One question I have though. Guadalupe are not a FIFA registered nation. So if they won this who goes to the Confederations Cup? Also the fact a Non FIFA nation plays in it, does that mean that this is a Non Fifa Recognised tournament? I noticed that the officials in the game were not wearing the standard Addidas Fifa kit? Continue reading...

The latest episode of the Referee's World podcast is out. This episode focus on summer fitness and the preparation to get ready for the new season and fitness test. Well worth checking out. Also a certain site may get a mention during it, thanks Darren. Link to the site to download it Amazon.co.uk Widgets Continue reading...

School boy football lesson 1, DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE BALL! Seen via the Offside.com Continue reading...