reffing expectations v reward v enjoyment

With the latest law changes the little joy left in reffing is being sucked out.

For the majority of refs who operate down the local park on a Sunday what is being asked of them is ridiculous.

All these countdowns, DOGSO changes, substitution changes. Where is there time for a ref to enjoy the game?

I've been reffing 35+ years so i'm at the end but now the job of reffing a game is so much more harder than the late 80s when i started.

So is the reward fair compared to what is being asked of us?

I think the balance has now totally shifted and i THINK this will be my last season.

I really think people are misunderstanding these countdown additions - it's just a handy tool to use if a player/team is deliberately trying to slow the game down/waste time. It doesn't need to be done on every single goal kick and throw-in if the players aren't extracting the urine. It's down to the referee to decide if the restart is being deliberately delayed; then you can still tell them to hurry it up, then if they're not listening, hit the whistle and start the count. If they want to keep delaying on every goal kick and throw-in they get, then you just need to get tighter with it. Unless you were having five cautions or more per game for delaying the restart (or shouting yourself hoarse telling players to hurry up) last season, there shouldn't be any reason why a few countdowns will particularly tax you from now on.

If the only "time to enjoy the game" was the time that was used up when a team were deliberately delaying their restarts, then I think you were doing something wrong

The game isn't there for referees, it is the other way round and without the game referees wouldn't exist. I've been critical of law changes in the past but the recent ones really seem to work, they speed up the game and cut out time wasting and gamesmanship. Yes, they require additional effort and thought from referees but that is just part of the role.

No one at IFAB sits and considers what impact law changes will have on referees, and arguably nor should they, it is what law changes will improve the game of football.

Can't just trundle around and wag your finger at a shouty teenager anymore, have to reflect the additional demands and expectations of the game.

Law changes are only as hard as you want them to be. I understand reticence (as no one ever really likes change, right?) but if you wish to keep being remunerated for a role, then fulfil it consistently like everyone else. You can choose to engage with learning, community, education and develop your own skills. A lack of willing to adapt/learn/improve is more than welcome to be brushed out from the game.

Kent Ref said:

With the latest law changes the little joy left in reffing is being sucked out.

For the majority of refs who operate down the local park on a Sunday what is being asked of them is ridiculous.

All these countdowns, DOGSO changes, substitution changes. Where is there time for a ref to enjoy the game?

I've been reffing 35+ years so i'm at the end but now the job of reffing a game is so much more harder than the late 80s when i started.

So is the reward fair compared to what is being asked of us?

I think the balance has now totally shifted and i THINK this will be my last season.

Click to expand...

The game can’t afford to lose any Referees, let alone vastly experienced ones. However, I’ve been to 4 games between Step 3-6 and the time downs etc have quickened the game up considerably and for a neutral watcher has made them more enjoyable, even though perhaps harder to officiate than the late 80’s with all the detail.

Kent Ref said:

I think the balance has now totally shifted and i THINK this will be my last season.

Click to expand...

I can't speak to your goals obviously, but at least for me, while recognizing everything you said as being correct, I personally went into refereeing with the expectation and desire of navigating challenging bureaucracy and idiocy.

For me, I honestly don't enjoy the game at all. I don't really watch it outside of highlights or follow any clubs. For me, the federations have completely sapped any love for the game out of me. I wouldn't go far as to say I hate the sport unequivocally, but I certainly despise how it is handled, played, and governed. I do not go to ref any games with the expectation of being able to enjoy them.

But if I approach it just like any other job, with a clinical attitude, with an mentality close to what Archer said; just fulfilling a duty and a rulebook like any other job that must be done, I find myself still getting small moments of enjoyment that I otherwise wouldn't have come expect. And because of that I am able to appreciate all the more that every once in a while we do get small bits of recognition, and that makes it worth it.

If a referee makes 99 correct decisions out of a 100, you are the only one who could make that last decision right. Nobody else can be on that pitch, at your game, at that time, exactly in your place to make that one missing decision correct except for you. That's something only you can do in that one moment in time and no one else can.