One from the other side....

[Andy Brown]

I have been lurking for a few days having passed my referees exam on Saturday, so thought I would take the plunge and introduce myself.

I have been involved in coaching at a grassroots level for about 10 years, mostly coaching Football at youth teams and in schools, I also coached Multi sports and Karate coach in schools. I am also the Media Secretary for a youth league and write a blog about coaching youth football and am taking a street football course in the summer.

Going through the exam has been an eye opener, both from learning more about the laws of the game and what is expected of Referees (not always what happens on game day!), which leads me to think that many referees are the like the majority of grassroots coaches = they have got the badge so the learning stops!

I have refereed many games as an unappointed ref, so I am not phased by being in the middle but am looking forward to changing some parents and players opinions about referees and them all being born out of wedlock.

 

[Ross]

Welcome to RefChat Andy. Glad to see the "lurking" has turned to posting

Any questions, feel free to ask

 

[Reffariiii]

Welcome

Out of interest, what Karate do you teach?

 

[Andy Brown]

I qualified as an instructor for Matt Fiddes Martial arts. Teaching kids in primary schools discipline, respect and basic self defence, the programme was a mixture of a few Kick boxing, Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu. The kids loved it, especially when a parent walked into the hall to collect their child and didnt bow, then I would send them back out again to do it properly....

Maybe that's something FIFA could introduce for Referees - any player entering the field of play has to bow to the Referee and Assistants to show respect for their decisions....