CapnBloodbeard
RefChat Addict
Kept this pretty close to my chest for quite a few years, but I'll see if you guys have any advice.
Long post, but it's not often that I'm the one asking for help on here - so I appreciate anybody taking the time to read through my post and respond.
Basically, I started refereeing about 17 years ago in a regional area, moved to my current city about 8 years ago, only refereed sporadically due to work commitments. 5 years ago went back to my old area for a season, came back, put in a season where I am now and gave it up due to work/time/study commitments (still haven't quite managed to get rid of my equipment though......)
Here's the thing. In my younger years I was always considered a quite capable, up and coming referee, and moved onto the top panel in my region fairly quickly upon hitting senior years, and had a few good GF appointments, including a couple of lines on the local first grade GF and some pretty decent middles too. At a national tournament was told by a national level inspector that I was the sort of referee where he could put me on any game and I could manage it, but I'd never make a HAL (our version of the EPL) referee (basically, I think they want referees with attitude/flair/arrogance). I was confident in my ability and didn't have too many difficulties on the pitch. Not bragging, providing context.
When I went back to my regional area, I struggled badly. It seemed to me that the levels of aggression and abuse had increased tenfold, but I felt like when I was officiating on the local premier league, that I was losing control of more games than not. Quite a few ended up in an absolute s***fight - and worse, on a few games I know I made a number of really amateurish errors. I started to feel like I just couldn't control a match at this higher level anymore - and that meant that if it got to within the last 20min of a game, I'd start becoming really nervous for the game to finish expecting it would blow up at any time.
Move forwards a year - different region, different grades. Even the lower grades I made a number of bad errors which affected the outcome - stupid, amateur errors. Worst of all, the errors from last season and this were repeating themselves. I was still struggling for control in the more intense matches as well, just felt like I couldn't gain or hold the respect of the players and the higher level games just tended to blow up.
So, while it may be several years before I have the time to get back into it, any thoughts, tips or words?
In the years where I wasn't doing much outdoor I picked up quite a bit of Futsal, and I've found that my approach to player management in Futsal had to be different to outdoor, and it may be that somehow this has wound up having a detrimental impact (I will never referee Futsal again - players are too problematic and I've had more assaults against myself and serious, over-the-top levels of abuse in 2 years of futsal than 15 seasons of outdoor. Pity because it's enjoyable otherwise, and good money too).
It seems like my attitude and confidence on the field dropped and I became less certain of my influence on the game and I couldn't control a game as a result. As to why I was making stupid, match-changing errors......well, I don't know why that was happening with greater frequency. Of course, it may simply be that without a good assessor watching a game that blew up, that it's difficult to work out what the issue is. I think my card delivery is overly aggressive which I'm sure is one factor, but I couldn't help but wonder if I lost the feel for when to give a card and gave (or didn't give) them at the wrong times, thus affecting the match....
(The fact that I'm still spending time on here and on several facebook forums, as well as Ask The Ref, indicates that it's something I still strongly care about)
And yes, believe it or not I'm about the least arrogant person you'll ever meet, though when it comes to refereeing advice and knowledge.....yes, I'll admit I can be arrogant and think I tend to know best, shocking to some!!
Long post, but it's not often that I'm the one asking for help on here - so I appreciate anybody taking the time to read through my post and respond.
Basically, I started refereeing about 17 years ago in a regional area, moved to my current city about 8 years ago, only refereed sporadically due to work commitments. 5 years ago went back to my old area for a season, came back, put in a season where I am now and gave it up due to work/time/study commitments (still haven't quite managed to get rid of my equipment though......)
Here's the thing. In my younger years I was always considered a quite capable, up and coming referee, and moved onto the top panel in my region fairly quickly upon hitting senior years, and had a few good GF appointments, including a couple of lines on the local first grade GF and some pretty decent middles too. At a national tournament was told by a national level inspector that I was the sort of referee where he could put me on any game and I could manage it, but I'd never make a HAL (our version of the EPL) referee (basically, I think they want referees with attitude/flair/arrogance). I was confident in my ability and didn't have too many difficulties on the pitch. Not bragging, providing context.
When I went back to my regional area, I struggled badly. It seemed to me that the levels of aggression and abuse had increased tenfold, but I felt like when I was officiating on the local premier league, that I was losing control of more games than not. Quite a few ended up in an absolute s***fight - and worse, on a few games I know I made a number of really amateurish errors. I started to feel like I just couldn't control a match at this higher level anymore - and that meant that if it got to within the last 20min of a game, I'd start becoming really nervous for the game to finish expecting it would blow up at any time.
Move forwards a year - different region, different grades. Even the lower grades I made a number of bad errors which affected the outcome - stupid, amateur errors. Worst of all, the errors from last season and this were repeating themselves. I was still struggling for control in the more intense matches as well, just felt like I couldn't gain or hold the respect of the players and the higher level games just tended to blow up.
So, while it may be several years before I have the time to get back into it, any thoughts, tips or words?
In the years where I wasn't doing much outdoor I picked up quite a bit of Futsal, and I've found that my approach to player management in Futsal had to be different to outdoor, and it may be that somehow this has wound up having a detrimental impact (I will never referee Futsal again - players are too problematic and I've had more assaults against myself and serious, over-the-top levels of abuse in 2 years of futsal than 15 seasons of outdoor. Pity because it's enjoyable otherwise, and good money too).
It seems like my attitude and confidence on the field dropped and I became less certain of my influence on the game and I couldn't control a game as a result. As to why I was making stupid, match-changing errors......well, I don't know why that was happening with greater frequency. Of course, it may simply be that without a good assessor watching a game that blew up, that it's difficult to work out what the issue is. I think my card delivery is overly aggressive which I'm sure is one factor, but I couldn't help but wonder if I lost the feel for when to give a card and gave (or didn't give) them at the wrong times, thus affecting the match....
(The fact that I'm still spending time on here and on several facebook forums, as well as Ask The Ref, indicates that it's something I still strongly care about)
And yes, believe it or not I'm about the least arrogant person you'll ever meet, though when it comes to refereeing advice and knowledge.....yes, I'll admit I can be arrogant and think I tend to know best, shocking to some!!