A&H

Strangest thing you've seen

Matthew

RefChat Addict
Turned up at my U16 game last weekend to find the nets secured with....

...a chest of drawers (seriously, a drawer on each side with the main shell in the middle). Thankfully I carry spare tent pegs with me, but the manager was genuinely surprised when I explained that it wasn't suitable :oops:

That got me thinking, what's the strangest improvised bit of equipment you've seen on the refereeing circuit?
 
The Referee Store
I think I posted this before but, through work, I visited a factory in China where they had an adjacent football pitch for their staff. It was a grass pitch but they'd set bricks into the ground as a means of marking the lines. I suppose they would never fade and need reline.
 
I think I posted this before but, through work, I visited a factory in China where they had an adjacent football pitch for their staff. It was a grass pitch but they'd set bricks into the ground as a means of marking the lines. I suppose they would never fade and need reline.

Huh. I guess I now know why the US high school rule book has specific language that mandates the line markings be "not injurious to the participants"!
 
The electrical switchy cupboard doubling up as a referee room.

not ideal at any time, for 3, far less on a day after the changing rooms had flooded, so much so the home team used cars/turned up changed, the away team split between home and away rooms
Upon advising, sorry, informing, the home side we would not be setting foot in a damp electircal cupboard, the reply was the only other option was the social club, currently open and in use.

everybody out.......
 
When playing I've had various weird things that have stopped play. Wild boars, turning up to a ground that had a car burning in the centre circle, referee stopping the game to use the toilet etc.

Said this in here before but the weirdest thing I've seen a referee do was rule a completely solid (and white) pitch (-5 degrees) fit for play. He then did another pitch inspection and complained to our manager that the nets weren't pegged down properly and was abruptly told that if he could get the pegs in the ground then good luck to him. Our goalkeeper couldn't kick the ball out of the area on goal kicks because he'd just slip over. Absolute farce.

2 weeks ago I was reffing a step 6 game and a very young toddler ran on to the ground and stopped play. Several mins later he was still there and no sign of any parents which was a bit worrying until they came and were given a standing ovation when they took him off.

I'm sure there's plenty more in the depths on my tiny brain somewhere
 
At my local supply league ground, before it was modernised and they moved up to contrib, you used to walk through a room with all of the pitch maintenance equipment to get from the changing rooms to the pitch. A sent off player went into said room and emerged with a shovel which he then started whacking people with.

At the same ground I turned up to referee a game and immediately thought something was wrong. Not one of the lines was straight, to the extent that any ball played straight down the touchline would have gone in and out of play many times. I went and got the club secretary and asked him if the groundsman had been on the sherries, to which he replied "no, the marking machine has got a wonky wheel". :) Had to get both managers out, with a league officer on the phone, and everyone agreed to play at the risk of there being some issues.

Also at the same ground, I got called out to do a pitch inspection on a Saturday in early August, in a heatwave. I did most of their inspections and the pitch was notorious for flooding, but this had me intrigued. When I arrived it was completely flooded and the same secretary was waiting for me with the postponement form in his hand. "What happened John" I asked, to which he replied "the groundsman left the hosepipe tuned on all night".
 
Also at the same ground, I got called out to do a pitch inspection on a Saturday in early August, in a heatwave. I did most of their inspections and the pitch was notorious for flooding, but this had me intrigued. When I arrived it was completely flooded and the same secretary was waiting for me with the postponement form in his hand. "What happened John" I asked, to which he replied "the groundsman left the hosepipe tuned on all night".
Not soccer, but I played in an adult basketball league where we got rained out . . . gym was below ground level and had a foot of water on the court from a massive leak!
 
Also at the same ground, I got called out to do a pitch inspection on a Saturday in early August, in a heatwave. I did most of their inspections and the pitch was notorious for flooding, but this had me intrigued. When I arrived it was completely flooded and the same secretary was waiting for me with the postponement form in his hand. "What happened John" I asked, to which he replied "the groundsman left the hosepipe tuned on all night".

I saw similar whilst working in now-North Macedonia in 2009. You have to bear in mind that at this time the civil war was a recent memory and inter-ethnic tensions were still high. So high in fact that that Macedonian Slav children went to school in the morning and Macedonian Albanian children used the same school in the afternoon. Even the teachers were separate and no one mixed.

I watched a caretaker start to water the pitch after mid morning and deliberately waterlogged it so it couldn’t be used in the afternoon.

Here’s the photo!
 

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I've posted this before I think. In a game where one or two players were complaining I was stopping the game too often ("Tell you what, you stop fouling and I'll stop blowing the whistle") when I stopped the game because a player's arm came flying out of his sleeve having detached itself from his shoulder, and landed on the pitch about 5 yards away from him. It took me a moment to to realise it was a prosthetic arm.

Player: "WHAT NOW!"
Me (pointing): His arm's fallen off
 
I've posted this before I think. In a game where one or two players were complaining I was stopping the game too often ("Tell you what, you stop fouling and I'll stop blowing the whistle") when I stopped the game because a player's arm came flying out of his sleeve having detached itself from his shoulder, and landed on the pitch about 5 yards away from him. It took me a moment to to realise it was a prosthetic arm.

Player: "WHAT NOW!"
Me (pointing): His arm's fallen off

tis but a scratch 🤭
 
In my first Sunday league open age match, the 4 corner flags were various sized branches taken from the trees next to the pitch with hi viz jackets hung on them
 
Maybe not strange as such but i don’t want to make a new thread for it, however every referee doing an EPL game yesterday wore black.
 
I had both teams at a varsity highschool game use their school bags and soccer bags to hold the nets to the back bar of the frames.

The frames were secured, but the netting was loose and the typical sandbags were ripped open at both ends.

The school's field crew wasn't around to fix it and both coaches thought the same cure.
 
Long story involving a colour clash which I won't repeat, but finding a set of shirts on our (the officials) changing room floor was pretty odd!
 
Cricket June as a player many years ago. Played a cricket game at a High Security mental hospital. We played on the pitch just outside the really secure area where the real nasties are housed. Our opening bat was just about to face the first delivery when he got asked to move his van as it had ladders on it and was parked right by the perimeter wall!
 
Cricket June as a player many years ago. Played a cricket game at a High Security mental hospital. We played on the pitch just outside the really secure area where the real nasties are housed. Our opening bat was just about to face the first delivery when he got asked to move his van as it had ladders on it and was parked right by the perimeter wall!

I'll bet the home opening quick was a wild one...
 
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