Search results

Refereeing is never going to be easy, and the public discourse about refereeing is getting worse, not better, and the FA still don't take respect seriously, so there's no sign of it improving. In that context, it takes a certain type of person to start their journey and continue it. I'm sure...

Concur with @Archer having done a few BUCS games this year. They do their team sheets online and are all over checking them and making sure deadlines are hit, but as the ref you get nothing. The website is super helpful when looking at for fixtures. As an L6 the standard is decent and...

Almost identical thing happened to me earlier this season though player didn't request a personal hearing. Got two match suspension for, effectively, double OFFINABUS. Sums up why player and coach behaviour is where it is.

West Ham fan and 100% the correct decision - was listening on 5 Live and they called it a good minute or two before the referee decided he'd had enough. If this was a grassroots match, you are right that a second report would be going in but in my experience there'll be no additional ban. Had...

My local RDO is excellent - like others, a young referee/AR at a high level, very proactive in terms of CPD, even if I’m grumpy they’ve added being a mentor as a compulsory part of 6-5 promotion, which rules me out as I simply don’t have the time between refereeing and family commitments. As...

Like @RustyRef as soon as it went to monitor it was foregone. Outside of what I think is a valid point by Clinton Morrison (if that’s a penalty there should be penalties for it every EPL game), it did look to me that Burn was the reason Betancur went down.

I was where you were earlier this season, so I hear you. Sh1tty game to end last season (dead rubber, I had a good game but numerous cards, sin bins and dickish behaviour), and my first three games of this season, where again I thought I did well, left me feeling a) why do I bother taking...

This isn’t a healthcare setting or a social services matter. You don’t need to be concerned about a CQC audit. This is a game of football where the LOTG apply. The boy was sent off for an offensive, insulting or abusive gesture, as per the LOTG. There really is nothing to see here.

No, but a male brain isn't fully developed until their early 20s, and research from Harvard today stated adolescence lasts until early 30s! My boy had just turned 14, and I referee U14s regularly (and prior to this year U11s, U12s, U13s) - their brains might not be fully developed but far more...

Thankfully it rarely happens, when it has it's largely at younger age groups and going through my records the only time I've issued cautions were at OA where once the player actually blocked the ball and I put it through as C1 USB (keepers' team chasing a late equaliser) and the other time...

That's helpful context, and I think for most they'll see some similarities between this scenario and the OP. Obviously YBTBT for both, but the biggest difference for me is the reference to "minor verbals", which is absent in the OP. Again, detail is crucial but I can see why verbals directed...

My bad @one - I said that because of the "a player is cautioned...for delaying the restart of play" law, and I've always viewed this is DRP, but of course it's not a restart...! 🤦‍♀️

Do you mind sharing the scenario, because if a CFA or League are taking action against a referee in the circumstances of the OP (eg some U13s players and/or parents laughing because a player who was kicking one of their players fell over in the process) for failing to report a safeguarding...

I do appreciate that there's a difference between similar and the same, but in the example given by @RespectTheRef I'd be astounded if a CFA Safeguarding team would get involved and seek to discipline him for not reporting something (and if they did I know a good solicitor). The only possible...

Agree with the two posters regarding the previous tripping/kicking - blowing the whistle early and intervening for that might have prevented the incident escalating. However, having escalated you dealt with it in the way it should’ve been, so well done for that. Couldn’t disagree with...

In an attempt to try to diffuse the situation, here's how I see it. Using the term "try reading it sometime(s)" in reference to the LOTG to anyone one on here, let alone an experienced referee, is - in it's most generous interpretation - not a constructive response, and to all intents and...

I’d be amazed if any of us take pleasure in issuing cards at any level, particularly at younger age groups, and there won’t be many of us that at times don’t “manage” incidents that, by law, ought to result in a sanction, especially in youth football. However, whilst for me personally the OP...

That was always my understanding, and is how RefSix (which I find particularly handy for sin-bins, with a written down back-up) calculates the time. If this wasn't the case, teams could feign an injury and time-consuming period of treatment on the pitch.

Agreed. I did like the line about consistency from critics and pundits re less/more interventions, which sums up the life as a referee at any level!

Thought this was generically interesting from Graham Scott (not behind the Telegraph paywall, for me at least): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/11/12/howard-webb-micd-up-michael-owen-var-refereeing/