Recent content by sunnycrofter

I get your point, there is a real problem with referee availability. My idea wouldn't be official mentoring, as such. A newly qualified referee signs up to their local league, and instead of being put straight onto a fixture, they just tag along to a fixture that already has an experienced ref...

Instead of throwing newly qualified referees out into the wild for their first six games, I wonder whether it would be beneficial sending them out with another level 7/6, just for a game or two, to watch/observe/see some of the intricacies and 'unwritten/untaught' stuff? In my first game, I...

I hope others agree, but when you have a game and you nail it (i.e. you know you handled the game well, handshakes all round at the final whistle etc), you won't remember the matches like you had yesterday. Of course, you'll learn from those bad days and you won't forget them, but once you get...

I had a similar incident in a Sunday league game recently. A team who had no subs had their midfielder sustain a blood injury, and I asked him to leave the field for treatment (and to replace his blood stained jersey). The captain insisted that I was required to stop the game as "we don't...

And so it should. If the IFAB/FIFA want to rid the game of the scourge of abuse/dissent, they need to increase the severity of the punishment. Comparing/contrasting to other offences shouldn't come into it. It works in rugby union...

I saw Sunny Singh Gil on a Championship game recently and I thought he was outstanding - akin to watching a Premier League ref drop down to do a Championship game. He now seems to be back on L1/L2 games.

I respect your point of view, but try not to look at your game(s) through the wider prism of your league as a whole, or how other match officials deal / don't deal with dissent in their games. I would say it would be far beneficial for you to focus on your own officiating and how you can manage...

This is a truly bizarre comment in my opinion. Sin bins don't need a quota, and nobody is working hard to "justify" dissent. They are a tool available to us to utilise, along with the list @george.g provides (managing players better, talking my way through things, involving skippers more). I...

I'm a big fan of letting a referee manage the nuances and individuality of every particular match, and dare I say, this attitude is actively encouraged at the high echelons of the senior game. "Empathy for the game", I think is the phrase I've heard used? Having such a rigid/mandatory policy for...

Out of interest, what does this acronym stand for? Thank you

What do you use to wipe them clear? I've used them for the first time today, but not sure how to get them clean for tomorrow morning 😂

Is there anywhere I can find this guidance? Tomorrow I have a game where I know a player is going to say that his chain has religious significance, that'll have it taped to his chest, and that he has a "religious exemption" from the FA. I refereed them four weeks ago, and he said the same...

I had my first OFFINABUS for discriminatory (homophobic) language this weekend - not toward me, but toward an opposition player. I filled out the relevant misconduct form on WholeGame, but how/where would I complete an extraordinary report?