My hardest match yet

[haywain]

Some of the threads on this site are worth their weight in refereeing gold, especially for those of us in the early stages of our refereeing careers, and this is definitely one of them, imho.

I just had to Google you, Oliver, to see if I could find out who you played for

Found your twitter site, at least i assume it's your twitter site. If you like a flutter and had Wayne Rooney in the back of your cab last week, (o.k. i made that bit up and it wasn't meant to sound in the least bit sexual), then i guess it's you, but i'm still curious as to who you played for. If it was Hyde, they're clearly missing you

 

[SM]

.... Stalker..... ?

 

[haywain]

Nah, just trying to be consistent - i upbraided drahc for the same thing yesterday

I just think that if Ross has gone to all that trouble..........

also helps me to stop thinking, 'what the feck does he know that i don't, when he's only the same level as me?'

edit to add: oops - just realised that you were accusing me of stalking Oliver

in that case, it's a fair cop, ref!

 

[SM]

Lol

 

[Matthew]

Some of the threads on this site are worth their weight in refereeing gold, especially for those of us in the early stages of our refereeing careers, and this is definitely one of them, imho.

I just had to Google you, Oliver, to see if I could find out who you played for

Found your twitter site, at least i assume it's your twitter site. If you like a flutter and had Wayne Rooney in the back of your cab last week, (o.k. i made that bit up and it wasn't meant to sound in the least bit sexual), then i guess it's you, but i'm still curious as to who you played for. If it was Hyde, they're clearly missing you

Haywain, may I suggest you have too much time on your hands?

 

[haywain]

you may well be right, Matthew, tho, trust me, reading oliver's post, typing Oliver Byron footballer into google, clicking on the twitter link that i thought might be his, reading a couple of threads on his twitter page and then typing my reply on here took all of two minutes

 

[Brian Hamilton]

Good points all round but to quote @haywain "You can, in the interests of good man management, warn the players in advance that you will have a zero tolerance approach to anything that you consider to be offensive, insulting or abusive" The key phrase here is "that you consider", the LOTG do not clarify this and each individual referee has a different take on this. Having played the game to semi pro standard I personally am not offended by off the cuff swearing or frustration or petty name calling and I have never whether playing or reffing heard a player ask for a red card because he has been called a name. Now if a player takes it too far, screams at the player, makes any kind of threat, uses any racist taunt or takes it too far with me then I will apply the OFINABUS law.

One example of this:-

I am acting as assistant on a game say red and blue, red attacking and the attacker is very cute with his runs arcing them to avoid being offside, the defender believes I am getting the decision wrong everytime and is becoming frustrated and therefore giving me a bit of gip, I warned him twice and eventually he makes 5 steps towards me to shout fu**ing no chance liner, I call over the referee who caution's the player. In my opinion if the referee had dismissed that player then he would have lost the players immediately and the game is gone.

2nd example:-

In the middle this time, warn a player twice about his language and dissent before he does it for a third time at which point I ask him to come to one side and I pull out my book to caution him, his response? From 5 yards away shouts F**k you, you Fu**in P**ck, I pop the book back into my pocket and reach for my back pocket for the red.

For me these two examples are very different, feel free to comment or disagree.

When you played to semi pro level did you ever react badly to petty name calling or did you ever use petty name calling to destabilise an opponent? If the answer to either of these questions is yes then you will realise that it isn't just your tolerance level of what is OFFINABUS that has to be considered but the effect of that OFFINABUS comment on any person who may hear it.

In the examples given, I agree with the sanctions applied.

 

[Southend-ref]

When you get to open age football if you keeping branding that red card for these incidents you will end up abandoning games guys, name calling and petty squabbles go on right the way through the 90 odd minutes its all about your style and man management to effectively cut it down.

I've got my first open age match on Sunday - where would you recommend drawing the line (I'm only 16 so I need to show I'm not a pushover)?

 

[SM]

Where you feel comfortable. Just be consistent.

The only thing you need to show the players is that you are a good, confident and competent ref. Setting out to show players anything in terms of being a pushover or not is a waste of time.

 

[Cheshire Ref]

Some of the threads on this site are worth their weight in refereeing gold, especially for those of us in the early stages of our refereeing careers, and this is definitely one of them, imho.

I just had to Google you, Oliver, to see if I could find out who you played for

Found your twitter site, at least i assume it's your twitter site. If you like a flutter and had Wayne Rooney in the back of your cab last week, (o.k. i made that bit up and it wasn't meant to sound in the least bit sexual), then i guess it's you, but i'm still curious as to who you played for. If it was Hyde, they're clearly missing you

I am ever so slighted worried by this post!!!! Twitter is a wonderful thing isn't it, I am a professional gambler/Wayne Rooney's chauffeur since my Hyde FC playing career finished, if they had of kept me on they may have only lost 29 games this season!!!

 

[Cheshire Ref]

When you played to semi pro level did you ever react badly to petty name calling or did you ever use petty name calling to destabilise an opponent? If the answer to either of these questions is yes then you will realise that it isn't just your tolerance level of what is OFFINABUS that has to be considered but the effect of that OFFINABUS comment on any person who may hear it.

In the examples given, I agree with the sanctions applied.

Come on Brian we both know the answer to your question! I have to say I do find myself agreeing with your points a great deal, sticking to my guns here though!!

 

[Brian Hamilton]

Come on Brian we both know the answer to your question! I have to say I do find myself agreeing with your points a great deal, sticking to my guns here though!!

We do both know the answer and that is why its important not to think like a player in those situations, but to take a wider viewpoint and think like a referee. You stick to your guns if you wish. I'd rather meet a principled referee who is wrong than a one without firm beliefs who changes their mind to appear right all the time. Keep working hard and using your player experience to enhance your game.