The Ref Stop

This is why a referee should contact the home manager....

mikedn

mikedn

Referee/Mentor
Match tonight at 18.30 in Bolton, not received any call/text/email to confirm match. So last night i text the home manager to check if pitch ok and game is on. Two hours later i receive an answer " Game is off pitch is unplayable i informed away manager and fixtures secretary yesterday" :confused:
Now if i hadn't have done that i would have had a 32 mile round trip in rush hour traffic for nothing. :mad:
So no i will not sit back and wait for " someone" to contact me, i will contact them after all doesn't cost me anything takes but a few seconds..... pity they don't realise that as well.:oops:
 
The Ref Stop
I completely agree with you, there is nothing to gain by being pedantic about such things. In my area it is clearly specified that the home team should contact the referee but if I haven't heard 24 hours prior to kick off then I'm phoning them. Much better to know than to make assumptions.
 
Also let your league secretary and referees secretary know that you had not been contacted to confirm the game,

I know one of my leagues' referee secretary would be having serious words with clubs who didn't contact refs properly.
 
J-K said:
Also let your league secretary and referees secretary know that you had not been contacted to confirm the game,

I know one of my leagues' referee secretary would be having serious words with clubs who didn't contact refs properly.
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I emailed the referees secretary to confirm postponement, and told him it was i that contacted the home manager.....
 
mikedn said:
Match tonight at 18.30 in Bolton, not received any call/text/email to confirm match. So last night i text the home manager to check if pitch ok and game is on. Two hours later i receive an answer " Game is off pitch is unplayable i informed away manager and fixtures secretary yesterday" :confused:
Now if i hadn't have done that i would have had a 32 mile round trip in rush hour traffic for nothing. :mad:
So no i will not sit back and wait for " someone" to contact me, i will contact them after all doesn't cost me anything takes but a few seconds..... pity they don't realise that as well.:oops:
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Do you live in some sort of mud-flat?

Every other game gets postponed?
 
OIREF! said:
I completely agree with you, there is nothing to gain by being pedantic about such things. In my area it is clearly specified that the home team should contact the referee but if I haven't heard 24 hours prior to kick off then I'm phoning them. Much better to know than to make assumptions.
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It depends on your competition rules.

While I admire the OP's endeavours to ensure he didn't waste his time, if the league requires the home club to confirm the fixture and they don't, then it should be reported to the league and they will probably be fined.

These fines are not punitive (usually around £10) but they help a league to ensure it does not descend in disorganised chaos, especially at this time of the season.
 
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RegalRef said:
Do you live in some sort of mud-flat?

Every other game gets postponed?
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More or less :p it just seems that most pitches are dead flat never drains or yards away from a stream of river ( i can think of 6) and they get flooded and nothing seems to drain... its like the whole northwest is sitting on a damn flood plain. And of course the bulk of pitches are council owned and 2 pints of water on a pitch and they close down everything
 
Brian Hamilton said:
It depends on your competition rules.

While I admire the OP's endeavours to ensure he didn't waste his time, if the league requires the home club to confirm the fixture and they don't, then it should be reported to the league and they will probably be fined.

These fines are not punitive (usually around £10) but they help a league to ensure it does not descend in disorganised chaos, especially at this time of the season.
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not sure if this has been covered before, apologies if so.... if i were,say, to wait and wait and wait for confirmation and it wasnt forthcoming... and i didnt initiate contact, what would i then do on match day? just assume that its not on and therefore not turn up ?
how would the league react to that , and for that matter the ref sec, county etc ? ( i mean if the game were actually on and i was a no-show)
 
richard ramjane said:
not sure if this has been covered before, apologies if so.... if i were,say, to wait and wait and wait for confirmation and it wasnt forthcoming... and i didnt initiate contact, what would i then do on match day? just assume that its not on and therefore not turn up ?
how would the league react to that , and for that matter the ref sec, county etc ? ( i mean if the game were actually on and i was a no-show)
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I think most league handbooks will have guidance on what you should do - which will either be contacting the league, or contacting the home team directly. I think if you fail to do that and then don't turn up as a result, I think that would unfortunately count as a no-show from you.
 
On the Saturday League i have got an email/text (not often) to say if a match has been called off, but i still contact home manager concerned if i've heard nothing by Friday evening.
The Sunday League stipulates we must contact the home manager prior to match to confirm K.O.
Why put yourself in a position where you "wait,wait,wait" and not know whats going on, be proactive show them who's the intelligent one and make sure. I would never go to a fixture if i already didn't have confirmation of whether the match was on or off, why make yourself look stupid just standing around like a wasp without a GPS.
 
GraemeS said:
I think most league handbooks will have guidance on what you should do - which will either be contacting the league, or contacting the home team directly. I think if you fail to do that and then don't turn up as a result, I think that would unfortunately count as a no-show from you.
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mikedn said:
On the Saturday League i have got an email/text (not often) to say if a match has been called off, but i still contact home manager concerned if i've heard nothing by Friday evening.
The Sunday League stipulates we must contact the home manager prior to match to confirm K.O.
Why put yourself in a position where you "wait,wait,wait" and not know whats going on, be proactive show them who's the intelligent one and make sure. I would never go to a fixture if i already didn't have confirmation of whether the match was on or off, why make yourself look stupid just standing around like a wasp without a GPS.
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fair do's thats common sense really .... ive not been in that position so far, fortunately
 
richard ramjane said:
not sure if this has been covered before, apologies if so.... if i were,say, to wait and wait and wait for confirmation and it wasnt forthcoming... and i didnt initiate contact, what would i then do on match day? just assume that its not on and therefore not turn up ?
how would the league react to that , and for that matter the ref sec, county etc ? ( i mean if the game were actually on and i was a no-show)
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You would always make contact with the home club and give them the benefit of the doubt - after all, email addresses or mobile numbers (for text messages) can easily get mistyped and the original sender may never know. If no response is received I would CALL the referee secretary and ask him to deal with it.

In your scenario you are backing yourself into a no-win scenario - travel and you won't be able to claim the expenses if you find the game is not on, or not travel and find the game was on and you get a no-show. Far simpler just to pick up the phone.
 
in bad weather I earn extra brownie points by doing a pitch inspection the night prior and inform the home team that its ok 'at the moment' so we'll see each other in the morning ... or 'its like a Mediterranean out there and no amount of indian sun will dry it over night' so lets call it off now.

usually gets most managers very thankful and you like look the proactive kinda chap they want
 
richard ramjane said:
not sure if this has been covered before, apologies if so.... if i were,say, to wait and wait and wait for confirmation and it wasnt forthcoming... and i didnt initiate contact, what would i then do on match day? just assume that its not on and therefore not turn up ?
how would the league react to that , and for that matter the ref sec, county etc ? ( i mean if the game were actually on and i was a no-show)
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Not confirming that it's on, is just as bad as not confirming that it's off.
If it's the home club's responsibility to do so, then all you're doing by contacting them is absolving them of their responsibilities. Eventually, the club just thinks "ah well, the ref'll ring me anyway so I'll not bother ringing him".
Only my opinion of course, but I prefer to take care of my own responsibilities and leave others to theirs.
If I turn up to a venue and it's been called off/changed whatever and it's not been communicated to me (only happened twice in the last 4 years), then the only person I'm contacting is the referee appointments secretary and/or the league secretary in connection with what action needs to be taken against those who failed to act responsibly. I'll also be insisting on my fee or part thereof as per league rules. After that, I'd expect that the miscreant club would be unlikely to neglect their responsibilities again.
It's not my job to "rescue" lazy or incompetent people. ;)

Rant over. :D
 
richard ramjane said:
if i were,say, to wait and wait and wait for confirmation and it wasnt forthcoming... and i didnt initiate contact, what would i then do on match day? just assume that its not on and therefore not turn up ?
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How are you appointed to matches? Do you not get an e mail via Full Time?
 
richard ramjane said:
not sure if this has been covered before, apologies if so.... if i were,say, to wait and wait and wait for confirmation and it wasnt forthcoming... and i didnt initiate contact, what would i then do on match day? just assume that its not on and therefore not turn up ?
how would the league react to that , and for that matter the ref sec, county etc ? ( i mean if the game were actually on and i was a no-show)
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Your appointment is from the league. You report no contact to the league. You provide a service to the league so if you turn up and there's no game, the league should sort out your payment.

Check your competition rules!
 
The lack of contact is something I imagine all referees have encountered at some stage refereeing on Sunday League's.

I know my league would be very annoyed if I just did nothing due to a lack of contact. The correct way in my eyes is a mix of what a few do. If there is no contact by Friday then give the home club a ring but report it to the league that you had to do so. If you attempt but fail to make contact then report that to the league and then they'll chase the home club trying to make contact.
 
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