The Ref Stop

I found him... LWR!!

deusex

deusex

RefChat Addict
I finally found the IDIOT that makes every team in my county think saying "leave it" is an offence.
I thought he was a myth!!
He gave free kicks on occasions players were telling their team mates to leave it without an opposition player within 20 yards! Painful to watch.
Didn't caution for any of them either!!

Also thought a pass through to an offside player wasn't offside as it took a huge deflection off a defender!!

To top it off he cautioned a player that had come on at half time without telling him (this was a friendly, and about as chilled a match you could hope to referee).

Prob passed his exam 20 years ago and hasn't looked at the laws since.
I'm sure Alex Rush-Fear or others will jump to his defence. But not even attempting to keep on top of the laws (Which is bloody hard this season) actually shows you don't really care and just want the £32 with minimum hassle.
 
The Ref Stop
Obviously in an ideal world all referees would learn the new laws. But unfortunately, this doesn't happen and at grass roots these refs play a vital role in keeping the game alive.
 
Peter Grove said:
The thing is, it doesn't matter when he learned the laws, there has never, ever been a time when the law said you could award an indirect free kick for "not putting a name on it."
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True but when I grew up playing most refs penalised "mine" or "leave it", and all coaches used to teach you not to say them words. Seemed normal at the time.

Obviously we'd like every ref to keep up with the laws but the truth is that many won't. But if you ask teams if they'd rather have a referee who's not up with current laws or no referee at all, the answer is obvious. There's nothing forcing refs to keep themselves abreast of the laws and rightly so. Football is not in a position to enforce something like that. Demand outstrips supply
 
Ben448844 said:
£25 for OA where I am
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My Saturday morning league is £25 OA, Saturday afternoon is £27 AR, £40 R(I think) in the top division, and £37 R in the lower couple of divisions. Seems I may have it quite cushy, I never realised.

Edit - May be £30 R in the lower divisions.
 
I spent 10 minutes watching a local game on Saturday as I walked to Sainburys. The referee was stopping play whenever a goal kick didn't leave the penalty area, the players were telling him he was wrong but he wasn't having it. This kind of thing will continue to happen until there is mandatory training for referees every season.
 
RustyRef said:
I spent 10 minutes watching a local game on Saturday as I walked to Sainburys. The referee was stopping play whenever a goal kick didn't leave the penalty area, the players were telling him he was wrong but he wasn't having it. This kind of thing will continue to happen until there is mandatory training for referees every season.
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I'd say just an exam every 10 years would suffice.
I honestly wouldn't miss the old school refs that would pack it in as a result.
If you have too few refs, you're not paying enough or you don't look after your refs. So rectify one of those!
I suspect the FA just want these refs to carry on doing the job, taking tha abuse, not cautioning for dissent, not sending in cautions as it easier than trying to keep good refs
 
deusex said:
I'd say just an exam every 10 years would suffice.
I honestly wouldn't miss the old school refs that would pack it in as a result.
If you have too few refs, you're not paying enough or you don't look after your refs. So rectify one of those!
I suspect the FA just want these refs to carry on doing the job, taking tha abuse, not cautioning for dissent, not sending in cautions as it easier than trying to keep good refs
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The game is more important than anything. You may not miss the old school refs, but the amateur footballers who have no game would.
 
Ben448844 said:
The game is more important than anything. You may not miss the old school refs, but the amateur footballers who have no game would.
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This type of reasoning perpetuates poor reffing. There should be a mandatory course at the start of every season to keep up to date with the games. Certain leagues in Worcestershire won't appoint you if you haven't attended a pre-season update course.
 
deusex said:
If you have too few refs, you're not paying enough or you don't look after your refs. So rectify one of those!
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Disagree with that. I've done very little games this season due to work commitments and I'm sure I'm not the only one. People don't like the idea of refereeing as it's a well known fact you won't escape abuse, something which the FA are trying to rectify. But although there is a lack of referees for games, there is still a high volume and trying to make sure all of these have regular exams etc is a big demand for the FA, who's staff will also need to be available to host these along with their other day to day jobs. Not to mention referees have their own day jobs and may not have the time to get to the exams, meaning that multiple sessions would have to be covered by the FA which would risk losing further refs
 
QuaverRef said:
Disagree with that. I've done very little games this season due to work commitments and I'm sure I'm not the only one. People don't like the idea of refereeing as it's a well known fact you won't escape abuse, something which the FA are trying to rectify. But although there is a lack of referees for games, there is still a high volume and trying to make sure all of these have regular exams etc is a big demand for the FA, who's staff will also need to be available to host these along with their other day to day jobs. Not to mention referees have their own day jobs and may not have the time to get to the exams, meaning that multiple sessions would have to be covered by the FA which would risk losing further refs
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Too many abusive fool players, too many referees that don't make an effort to stay in this decade's laws, let alone this year's. That sounds exactly like a two-birds-one-stone situation to me.
Maybe if FAs were prepared to do something effective and burn the chaff instead of "growing the game" by taking every mob that was offering a few pound, they'd get somewhere on fixing both issues.
 
I agree it’s not great, but the reality is that for the majority of referees that are not interested in progressing up through the ranks, there are not the resources available to have any form of checks on them to ensure they meet a minimum standard of ability.

There are too few mentors (as most are also balancing refereeing themselves with mentoring) for even the young and newly qualified, never mind those that are more experienced. There’s no real way of having refs have to pass a test at the start of each season with the resources available.

Unless any ref is on a promotion path or officiating on a supply league as an assistant, often the only contact with anyone else is with the appointment secretary or if a shared venue a couple of other referees before and after their games. The only way in which they come to attention is if they consistently get poor club marks or there is an incident that needs investigating.

I’d personally like to see random spot checks of referees from county FA, unannounced visits on referees of all levels and not just those on promotion paths, with those that are not applying the laws correctly having to sit a refresher course before being allowed to referee again. I suspect that’s not overly practical though!
 
cwyeary said:
Why would the exam need to be in person? We have online recertification courses here in the US. It takes an hour or two, covers additional topics beyond law changes, and you can do it any time you want within a six month period.
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Was just about to suggest the same thing. Just do an online, open book quiz which needs to be completed before registration is accepted. Target it at the changes and hey presto.
 
Viking said:
This type of reasoning perpetuates poor reffing. There should be a mandatory course at the start of every season to keep up to date with the games. Certain leagues in Worcestershire won't appoint you if you haven't attended a pre-season update course.
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There is poor refereeing at the bottom of the ladder, just like there is a poor standard of football etc. The majority of referees aren't looking to progress and are there year after year serving the game for a bit of beer money. When there are far more games than there are referees, putting further barriers in the way of current referees is absolute madness. The only impact this could possibly have on referee retainment is a negative one, and why would anyone want that?

Alot of referees appear to forget that football us not about us, it's about the game and the ability for as many to participate as possible, players or referees. A reduction in referees means a reduction in football, and that's the last thing anybody wants. The game is far more important than anything else. If a ref is a bit our of date on the laws but by being there 22-30 people get to enjoy a football match then so be it. The ability of the referee is less significant than the game being played.
 
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