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I’ve been umming and ahhing about posting this as I don’t really feel the need to discuss it massively, but given all the discussion about abuse in recent days… Unfortunately after 16 years of refereeing I was assaulted for the first time last week. Nothing major and no harm done… a player...

Some I’ve worked with prefer assistants to flag if the ref has given a foul particularly near to them, even if they haven’t seen it necessarily. Just so the benches don’t think the referee has given something that wasn’t there - aka if the lino hasn’t flagged the bench may say “even the lino...

As Ben said higher up, I agree that football is broken in that it is wrong that it has become an accepted part of the game for refs to be abused. Personally I’ve reached a point in the last year or so where I no longer ignore most of the abuse and just set my stall out early. I’ve sin binned at...

Had exactly the same this weekend too. At least the message is getting through to some

Yeah I’ve gone for this. Interestingly my county has just announced yesterday a new ‘pledge’ against abusive behaviour. Hope that means tougher actions too.

Yeah it’s one of those ones that depends how literally you take the word attempt. He was trying to charge at me, what he would have done next is unclear. Either way, two yellows seems too soft so it’s gone through as OFFINABUS. Thanks for everyone’s input

Had the misfortune of refereeing a team who were out to get me from minute 1 today. Player from said team commits a reckless challenge on the outside of his penalty area and I award the free kick thinking I’m going to hand out a yellow. He then charges at me while yelling (incoherent) and has...

What a plonker. Perhaps an additional report to the league about his unauthorised equipment (watch) would remind him to turn around in future.

For me it’s a red. Kicking someone is a violent act in any other walk of life.

I only speak to the captains before the game (other than saying hello to the managers). I’ve never addressed a full team - feels weird and looks weird. Edit: apologies if I was unclear earlier. At the toss I let the captains know that I have a low tolerance for dissent and ask them to manage...

I see where you’re coming from with this, but I have such a low tolerance for dissent that I have no problem cautioning the first person to cross the line. Tends to nip it in the bud

Astonishing he stayed on the pitch really… that was the definition of dissent

Question out of curiosity for those refereeing at grassroots/park level. After sending a player off, how vigilant are you with getting them to leave the vicinity of the field of play? Or are you happy for them to hang around if there is no animosity/they’re not causing any problems/it wasn’t an...

Definitely onside

I came on here today to make more or less exactly the same post. Drama-free game yesterday until the 44th minute, home team 3-0 down. By the 46th minute, two of the home team had been sin binned, and one of those two was sent off for his choice of words afterwards. By the end of the game...

I eventually got my Sunday bits through WGS on Monday morning after a lot of bother… not the best weekend to have two reds and six yellows to report

I’ve had two reds and a yellow for the same team after full time (while I was still on the pitch). That reduced them to six players so thankfully the game was already over!

Yeah you did the right thing. I had a Sunday league friendly two weeks ago between two teams who know each other well. Before kick off, the home manager told me the classic “it’s just a friendly, you’ll have no trouble today etc”, before informing me that in the same friendly last season, an...

I just referee it as a normal game, cards and all, but make that clear to managers and captains at the start so they know what to expect. Perhaps I’m a touch more lenient on persistent infringement but that’s it off the top of my head.

Get there in plenty of time, look the part (shirt tucked in, socks up etc), introduce yourself to both managers, big blow of the whistle to get the captains together, and then enjoy yourself. You know more than you think (and certainly more than everyone else there). Best of luck!